Wood sweeps Sherando, raises funds for Comfort House

WINCHESTER — Prior to Tuesday night's volleyball match at James Wood's Shirley Gymnasium, Colonels coordinator of student activities Brian Sullivan asked all cancer survivors to stand up and be recognized as part of the Colonels' "Volley for a Cure" fundraiser.

Not long after, Colonels players made their way to the bleachers for their most significant passes of the night, giving pink carnations to those survivors. In the case of James Wood junior setter Hannah McCullough, she not only got to give away a carnation to a survivor, but also get something in return from one — a warm hug from her mother, Kandi.

Hannah was only 2 years old when Kandi was diagnosed with breast cancer, but she overcame cancer early in Hannah's life. The number of hugs they've shared since then are countless, but they mean a little more on nights like Tuesday.

"She's a real inspiration to me, and I love her so much," said McCullough after the match. "It just means a lot to play for her."

Everyone in the bleachers — which were mostly filled and mostly featured people in pink shirts — got to hear the names of the people each James Wood and Sherando athlete were playing for on Tuesday as part of the pre-match ceremony. They also got to hear about the importance of the Katie Teets Bradshaw Comfort House, where all proceeds from "Volley for a Cure" will be donated.

In the actual match, James Wood continued its dominant season by sweeping Sherando by the scores of 25-12, 25-9, 25-19 to improve to 14-0 overall and 8-0 in the Class 4 Northwestern District. The Warriors fell to 7-7 (4-4).

James Wood coach Adrienne Patrick was pleased with the win, but what she was most happy about was doing something important for the local community.

The Colonels raised a volleyball-program record $11,000 last year for the Sideout Foundation, an organization based in Fairfax that supports breast cancer research. But this year James Wood decided to raise money for the Katie Teets Bradshaw Comfort House, a non-profit organization formed to build a facility near Winchester Medical Center where dying people could spend their final days surrounded by loved ones in a home-like setting rather than the clinical confines of a hospital.

The organization was founded to honor the spirit of Teets Bradshaw, a Sherando graduate who served as a registered nurse at the Winchester Medical Center's ICU and at Shenandoah Oncology. In June of 2021, Teets Bradshaw died at the age of 28 after a two-year battle with breast cancer.

Patrick said Ladonna Taylor — the mother of James Wood junior middle hitter Lexi Taylor — is friends with Julie Teets, a 1988 James Wood graduate and the mother of Katie. She made the suggestion last year to help the Comfort House. Julie Teets — the organization's CEO — addressed the crowd before Tuesday's match.

Patrick said cash donations before Tuesday night's event began totaled $8,500, and she is confident the total donations will surpass $11,000 once the money from Tuesday's raffles, donations and ticket sales, as well as other fundraising measures that have taken place and are forthcoming, are totaled up. Patrick said James Wood plans on presenting members of the Comfort House with a check prior to the Oct. 18 home match.

"Sideout is a huge foundation, but no one sees [the impact locally]," said Patrick, who honored her mother-in-law Jenny Butts, a breast cancer survivor who goes to every one of Patrick's matches, on Tuesday. "So to be able to do something for the community ... you saw how many people turned out.

"Our team was also working at [the Comfort House] car show selling some things. I feel like it's good for the team, because the girls see there's things that are bigger than themselves with the community involvement aspect. And I love that we were able to affect people locally. This matters. I love it. I want to be able to continue to do things locally."

James Wood has been getting the job done efficiently no matter where its opponents are from. The Colonels have swept 12 of their 14 opponents, including Sherando twice, and have yet to play a fifth set.

The Warriors jumped to a 10-8 lead in the first set on Tuesday, but the Colonels ended the set with a 17-2 run. Serves from senior libero Carsyn Vincent (seven digs, six aces) were particularly tough to handle, as she had four in a row to push James Wood's lead from 19-11 to 23-11.

"Serving streaks fire any team up," said McCullough, who had a team-high 14 assists. "They always give a team hope. When you get multiple aces, it's just an excitement, and you want to get more and more."

Taylor added four aces on Tuesday, including three in the second set.

James Wood's defense showed up in a big way in the first set as well. The Colonels had five of their 11 blocks in the first set, with senior middle blocker Ella Kelchner (seven kills) recording two of her five blocks (two solo). Ashlyn Spence led the Colonels with six blocks (three solo).

"I think we're definitely coming together on the front line more," Kelchner said. "Just getting our timing down, working as a unit up there more then we have been."

James Wood put the hammer down in Set 2 as well, outscoring the Warriors 16-2 to close out out. Addie Pitcock (seven kills) had three kills in the set after recording four in the first.

As good as the Colonels were in the first two sets, their attack was at its best in the third set, and they needed it. After committing 10 attack errors in the first two sets, James Wood had only three in the third while recording 14 kills as they went back-and-forth with the Warriors.

The third set was tied at 15 until Kelchner dropped a dink kill onto the middle of the floor, sparking a 6-1 run in which Kelchner had four kills to make it 21-16.

With the score 22-19, a Kelchner kill off a set from Paige Ahakuelo (11 assists) started a 3-0 run that ended the match. On match point, Sherando got plenty of contact on a Kennedy Spaid spike during a long rally, but the ball dropped at the feet of two players for Spaid's sixth kill of the night.

Kelchner's biggest contributions come on defense (team-high 32 blocks, seven solo), but she definitely made an impact on the attack in the third set.

"I'm not saying I don't get the ball a lot, but I don't get a ton of opportunities to put the ball down," Kelchner said. "Getting those felt good."

Patrick gave credit to the Warriors for how they played.

"I feel like there were several times where Sherando was really maximizing on areas where we weren't, putting balls in places that we weren't," Patrick said. "But our team can rise to the occasion when needed."

Sherando coach James Minney said his team is still trying to work on its positioning on the court.

"James Wood has a very fast game," Minney said. "It's something we can't mimic in practice. We struggle with that type of offense. They're a good team, and they're well coached."

Sherando was led by Sarah Starling (five kills, three blocks) and Helena Ritter (four kills, one block).

"The third set was definitely better," Ritter said. "We had way more energy."

Ritter played for a family friend who survived cancer, as well as a family friend who did not.

"Losing people from cancer, an event like this is a big deal," Ritter said. "It's really nice to mention people, and play for them."

Kelchner played in honor of her great aunt, who passed away from breast cancer before she was born.

"It's definitely emotional for everybody," she said. "Both sides, it kind of felt like we were playing for something bigger than just some volleyball game.

"I think everybody played for someone, even if they're not around with us now, that did have an impact on their lives in some way, which I think is really great."

James Wood will next play on Thursday at Liberty. Sherando will host Kettle Run on Thursday.

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