Clarksburg vs Northwest in the MCPS County Championship

Last night, Clarksburg and WJ battled it out in the bottom half of the bracket in a 5-set nail biter. With the support of the home crowd behind them, Clarksburg won an intense back-and-forth match to head to the county finals.

On the other side of the bracket, as predicted, Northwest had an easy 3-set sweep over Blair and will be facing Clarksburg in the championship tomorrow.

Regular Season Records

Northwest vs Clarksburg Review

Both teams are very familiar with one another. Northwest High School and Clarksburg are roughly 15 minutes apart, and played in the same regular season pool. During the regular season, Clarksburg finished 8-0 in their division, and Northwest finished 6-2, with their only two losses coming against Clarksburg in two 3-0 sweeps. That 7-2 record gave the Jags the 5 seed, and placed them in the top half of the bracket, giving them a fairly easy path to the finals. Clarksburg, on the other hand, having lost a coin toss, were placed as the 2nd overall seed which forced them to face both Wootton and WJ, both from the hyper competitive Mid-county division.

Northwest's Path

6/7 - Northwest vs Poolesville : 3-0 
6/10 - Northwest vs Wheaton : 3-1
6/14 - Northwest vs Blair : 3-0

Clarksburg's Path

6/8 - Clarksburg vs Quince Orchard : 3-0
6/10 - Clarksburg vs Wootton : 3-0
6/14 - Clarksburg vs WJ : 3-2

Interesting Notes

• Clarksburg did defeat Northwest 3-0 the last two times they faced each other, but the Jags came awfully close to taking the third set the last time they played. Could it be that Northwest has started to figure out Clarksburg's offense?
• Both starting outsides from both teams were all teammates last year for the Maryland Volleyball Program U16 club team. Nathan Goh, Andrew Ahn, Aaryan Patel and Owen Ehlers. To say they know each other well would be an understatement. Nathan and Andrew have been club teammates since they were 11 years old and currently play together with Owen Ehlers on the MVP U17 club team that just came back from winning East Coast Championships two weeks ago. 
• Clarksburg is missing starting middle Aidan O'Connell, who was also missing in their semi-final vs WJ last night. His absence could have an impact on this game.
• Northwest won a very uneventful 3-0 match against Blair in the semis, while Clarksburg is coming off a grueling 5 setter. Will there be a letdown after coming off such an emotional win, or will Clarksburg come ready to compete? Will Northwest be "fresh", or will there be a step slow from being untested the last three matches? 

There are lots of questions leading up to this championship that will be played on Wednesday at 5pm. Hope you come out to watch this game live! A big shoutout to MCPS, Scott Zanni, the coaches and all of the players across the county for coming together and making this volleyball season possible. With all of the uncertainty surrounding the season in this truly unprecedented year, we are all grateful to have had a full season. Congratulations to Clarksburg and Northwest high schools for making it this far! We hope to see a great match tomorrow.

Thank you for reading! As always, if your team is looking for spirit wear, uniforms, or warm-ups, or if you just want some cool volleyball gear, check out 1-on-none at https://1-on-none.com and give us a follow at @1_on_none!