Volleyball Coach of the Year: James Wood's Adrienne Patrick

After guiding the James Wood volleyball team to its first state title in program history in 2022, Adrienne Patrick conducted quite the encore in 2023.

Patrick is The Winchester Star Volleyball Coach of the Year for the second straight season after leading the Colonels to a repeat Class 4 championship campaign. James Wood — which had seven returning players on its 10-player roster — became the first program at any of the five local high schools to win consecutive state titles since the Millbrook girls’ basketball team captured its third straight in 2012.

The Colonels set a school record for victories in a 27-2 season.

James Wood went 8-0 in Class 4 Northwestern District matches for its second straight district regular-season title, sweeping both matches against Millbrook (18-4 record, 3-2 and 3-1 wins) and Sherando (15-6 record, 3-0 and 3-1 wins).

The Colonels had a slew of other impressive regular-season wins, beating West Virginia powers Musselman (2-0 set score, Class AAA state finalist this year) and Hedgesville (3-0, Class AAA state semifinalist) and Maryland powers North Hagerstown (3-1, repeated as Class 3A champions) and Williamsport (3-0, Class 2A semifinalists).

The only losses the Colonels suffered came in best-of-three matches against eventual state champions at the Endless Summer tournament in Virginia Beach, where they went 3-2 overall and had the win over Musselman. James Wood lost 2-1 to Hidden Valley (Class 3 champ) and 2-0 to Flint Hill (Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association Division I champions every year beginning in 2017). James Wood decided after the tournament they wanted to have libero Brenna Corbin rotate into the front row for her attacking ability, so the Colonels transitioned to playing without a libero the rest of the season.

In the postseason, James Wood defeated all six of its opponents in three sets. The highlights were beating Millbrook in the Region 4D semifinals, Blacksburg in the Region 4D final for its second straight region title, and Hanover in the Class 4 final at Virginia Commonwealth University’s Siegel Center by the scores of 27-25, 25-20, 25-14.

Corbin, a sophomore, was one of four Virginia High School League Class 4 All-State selections for James Wood. Senior setter and opposite hitter Paige Ahakuelo and sophomore outside hitter and Class 4 Player of the Year Kennedy Spaid joined Corbin on the First Team, and senior middle hitter Ashlynn Spence was selected to the Second Team.

Q. What qualities stood out about your team this season?

Patrick: Having so many people return from a state championship team and knowing that there’s a high expectation to continue that run of success can be difficult. You have to have a lot of mental toughness as an athlete. I’m very blessed to coach extremely talented girls. But their willingness to know what has to be put into the preseason, then into the practices, and into every game, I feel like is a testament to their ability to play the game and their strength as players. It would be very easy to say that winning something once is enough, or what you’ve done in the past is enough. What coaches want to see is the fight of an athlete to keep working, to stay positive and persevere through any type of obstacle that we face, to be willing to make changes when necessary, and to put the team first when changes are made. We did those things, and I think that is a great testament to our culture and what we’re trying to continue to build upon with James Wood volleyball.

Q. What was important in the team’s development?

Patrick: When you are able to continue through a season and make improvements, I feel like that in itself is great. For example, when we’re playing Millbrook and we’re able to win in a more efficient rate every time that we see them, that was important for our team. (James Wood beat Millbrook 3-2 in their first matchup, 3-1 in the second and 3-0 in the third.) Endless Summer, both of those teams we lost to [won state titles], so to be able to compete with them and find out what some of our weaknesses are and making adjustments was big, like moving Brenna from libero back to outside [hitter] where she was playing the season prior. You have to schedule tough matches like we had. With this new system where your total record determines your seeding for region, you run a risk scheduling tough matches, but in the end for us the risk paid off, because those matches made us better. I’m happy with having a competitive schedule like we did, and I’m happy with how we performed in that competitive schedule.

Q. The team spoke about Kim Maxwell after winning the state tournament. (Maxwell is a former James Wood Middle School girls’ basketball coach who coached James Wood volleyball assistant Brandy Corbin and is Brenna Corbin’s godmother. Patrick played against Maxwell with Frederick County Middle School. Maxwell — who spent 35 years coaching girls in Texas and Virginia — spoke to James Wood’s players at practice the day before each of their first five postseason matches, then spoke to the team before the players got on the bus before leaving for the state final.) How would you describe her impact on the team?

Patrick: I think she came to every single one of our home matches this year. I know Kim as being a very motivational person. We spoke several times last year during the season. I can see when somebody else has something good going on, and I will bring people in to try to make what our program is better. She would talk for three to five minutes maximum, but it was enough to get the girls even more motivated. I think no other person could have delivered the message that she did besides Kim Maxwell. If I would have been saying a script from Kim Maxwell, it wouldn’t be the same thing. The delivery is different. I’m their coach. They see me day in and day out. But having a community member they don’t necessarily have a connection with, it was just amazing. She was able to see growth throughout the season. She was able to pick up specific things they had done and comment on them. She knew just what to say. She would say, ‘Eyes of a champion, queens of the court, and big heart,’ and that’s what we played with our entire postseason. I thanked her several times. That additional motivation was really beneficial for our program.

Q. Anything else you want to say about the team’s memorable moments?

Patrick: For a long time, we have not played Musselman. (The Applemen have won nine West Virginia Class AAA state titles since 2008.) When I started coaching with James Wood volleyball in 2016 as P.W. Hillyard’s volunteer assistant coach, we did play them in the preseason, and I’m pretty sure we played them the following year, but then we didn’t play them again. Playing Musselman at the Virginia Beach tournament and beating them I thought was a really big deal and a big motivational push for us.

When Hannah McCullough got her 1,000th assist (in the Region 4D quarterfinals against Charlottesville), we had planned it out so that we were going to surprise her. When I called a timeout and there was a sign that said ‘1,000th assist,’ she was cheering and clapping because she thought Paige had done it. She was so celebratory and supportive of a teammate, and it was actually her we were celebrating ... I started to tear up. I don’t have words for that type of person, that type of athlete who puts the team so far above themselves.

And the second time getting handed a state championship trophy was incredible. Having girls who play for me who have accomplished all these firsts [in school history], it’s pretty great. I’m incredibly grateful to be able to work with this group of talented girls. Everything has come together to get us where we are right now.

— Compiled by Robert Niedzwiecki