October 29, 2010
By Mark Sawyer
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER- Maybe it was revenge, or the chance at locking up second place in the district.

Maybe it was because of senior night, or simply to maintain the momentum heading into next week's Northwestern District tournament.

Or maybe it was a combination of all those factors. But, whatever the reason, the James Wood High School volleyball team showed up ready to play their regular season finale Thursday night against rival Handley.

In sweeping the Judges 3-0 (25-16, 25-22, 25-14), the Colonels not only avenged a 3-2 loss to Handley earlier in the year, but they also locked up second place in the final district standings on a night they honored five seniors at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

"We knew that we had this in us," James Wood coach Jill Lester said. "The motivation was [that] this is our last home match of the year. The whole mindset tonight was, [losing] is not gonna happen. Our team has peaked, and it's the perfect time to peak."

The two teams have been going in opposite directions since they played just over two weeks ago at Handley.
The Judges' win Oct. 12, followed by a win over Millbrook two nights later, put the Judges in second place. But a four match losing streak has dropped them into fourth place, and into Monday night's Northwestern District play in-game against fifth-seeded Millbrook. (The entire tournament is at Sherando.)

The winner of that match advances to play the top-seeded Warriors in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, the Colonels have won four out of five since their loss to Handley, the only loss being to Sherando. James Wood will face third-seeded Skyline in the district semifinals Tuesday night.

Before the match Thursday, James Wood seniors Amanda Shaughnessy, Peyton Clark, Megan Crabtree, Hannah Tierney, and Emily Shannon were honored, and each played a significant role in winning their final home match.

"In the locker room before the match I asked our seniors to take charge, and that's exactly what happened tonight," Lester said. "All of them played unbelievable tonight. The whole entire team, I'm just impressed with the way they took charge tonight."

Tierney had a match-high 14 kills and three aces. Shannon was right behind with 12 kills and four blocks.

The Colonels' back-row defense was stellar as well, with Crabtree registering 16 digs and Shaughnessy 12. Each also added a pair of aces.

Clark finished with six kills, three blocks and two aces.

"[The motivation] was definitely senior night being our last home game, there was a lot of emotion," Tierney said. "We wanted to finish strong. [Making it to regionals] has been my goal this year, so I'm hoping we can accomplish it."

"This is such a good feeling to finish strong," Shannon added.

The turning point of the match may have come on one point in the second set.

Trailing 21-16, the Colonels stole the momentum with an unbelievable rally. First, Crabtree made a spectacular dig on a play that would have given the Judges a six-point lead. Then, on the same rally, Shannon raced out of bounds towards the stands to send an errant pass back onto the court, where Emilee Payne was able to knock home a winner, cutting the deficit to 21-17 and bringing the crowd to life.

Wood (15-5, 5-3) followed that up with seven straight points, while the home crowd continued to get louder and louder in support.

With the Colonels leading 24-22, the teams exchanged service errors and Wood had an improbable second set victory and a 2-0 lead in the match.

"That defensive play alone is what changed the game around," Lester said. "When they called timeout, I told them that's exactly what we needed. Amanda [Shaughnessy] then went back [to the service line] and rattled off several points in a row. She had the match of her life tonight."

That rally took the wind out of the sail of the Judges (8-12, 3-5), who quickly fell behind in the third set 7-2.

Handley closed the gap to three points at 12-9, but another 6-0 run by the Colonels pushed the lead to nine and all but ended any hopes of a comeback.

"Offensively they attacked the ball more then we did, and we weren't getting the attacks we got last time we played them," Handley coach Lindsay Hazelette said. "Defensively, I think our team gave it their all. In the second set they had a couple of scrappy plays that gave them the momentum, and volleyball is all about momentum. We just weren't able to recover."

Payne dished out 36 assists to lead the Colonels, and Kelby Jackson added 12 digs.

Megan Strother led the way for Handley with 15 digs. Dierdre Carter had five kills and Emma Sweeney added three.