The second week of September wasn’t the busiest one for sports at Meridian High School, with the football team having a bye week as they prepare for their home opener this Friday against Culpeper County. Field hockey, volleyball, cross country, and golf were all in action, though, and achieved some mixed results.
Field hockey continues to carry the banner for the Mustangs this season, just as they did last year. They added a trio of wins against James Monroe on Monday, at Brentsville on Tuesday, and back at home against Jackson-Reed on Friday, to improve to 6-0 on the year. They’ll now look to stay unbeaten when they host district rival Fauquier on Tuesday, and then travel to Sidwell Friends tonight.
The boys’ volleyball squad continues to endure some growing pains, losing all three of its matchups this past week as the group looks for its first win in program history. They lost 3-1 against Oakton on Monday before dropping two on the road at McLean and Mechanicsville on Thursday and Friday, both in 3-0 sweeps, but will try to regroup as they travel to Centreville this Tuesday and then host Langley tonight.
Meanwhile the girls beat Liberty-Bealeton 3-0 on the road Tuesday before falling 3-1 at home to Millbrook on Thursday, and then took one of three games in tournament play on Saturday by beating C.D. Hylton 2-1 but losing to Washington-Liberty and Alexandria City. At 3-5 on the year now, another big week awaits the girls as they host Kettle Run on Tuesday and then travel to Manassas Park on Thursday, before competing in another tournament on Saturday in which they’ll play Justice, Gar-Field, and Westfield.
Cross country competed at the Lake Braddock relays on Saturday, putting together some solid performances as William Anderson ran the 10th-fastest split of all runners in the boys’ race, while Michelle Malheiro and Ally Campbell were respectively 11th and 12th for the girls. Next, they’ll be competing in the Oatlands Invite on Saturday.
Finally, the golf team was in action in a match at Shenandoah Valley, where they placed eighth out of 19 schools who competed in the event. They’ll now compete against Kettle Run and Millbrook at the Blue Ridge Shadows course on Wednesday this week, and take on another host of schools back at Shenandoah Tonight.