WINCHESTER — Junior Teagan Braun-Duin reached a career milestone on Monday that no other Handley volleyball player had achieved over the last decade.
And to get there, she took advantage of a couple of security blankets the Judges have banked on during an unbeaten season.
Braun-Duin reached 1,000 career assists in the third set as she and her Handley teammates improved to 16-0 with a 25-20, 25-21, 25-21 sweep of four-time defending Class 4 champion James Wood on Dig Pink Night at Maddex-Omps Gymnasium.
Braun-Duin got the ball to Breeze Johnson (20 kills) and Sadie Bailey (10 kills) in key situations, especially to Johnson in the first set with the Judges trailing 18-14. Her assist on Bailey’s kill midway through the third set was the 1,000th of her career as she became the first Handley player to reach the milestone since current Judges assistant coach Mya Mintschenko in 2016.
“It actually means so much to me,” said Braun-Duin of the mark. “My brother [Will] did it in basketball [1,000 career points] and now I’m doing it for volleyball. I could not have done it without Breeze, Sadie and everyone else on my team. I’m so grateful.”
Handley coach Kristen Larson said Braun-Duin was unaware of how close she was to reaching the milestone. After Bailey’s kill, the Judges called a timeout to honor the setter and all-around standout.
“It’s very special because it shows how much time and commitment she’s had,” Larson said. “To do it in her junior year in such a big game is just the icing on the cake. … She’s a really hard worker and she’s done so well.”
“I think it was honestly the best thing this year that has happened,” said Johnson, whose rocket right arm has helped Braun-Duin pile up the assist numbers. “She totally deserved that. She works so hard. I’m in the same class as her, so we’ve been best friends coming into this. … I could not be more proud of her.”
Johnson was a big reason why the Judges were able to record their second sweep of the Colonels (10-5-2) this season. In the opening set, James Wood trailed 10-5, but rallied. With the score tied at 12, the Colonels went on a 6-2 run to force Larson to call a timeout.
“We needed to clean up some things and go back to the fundamentals of what we know how to do — serve tough, get behind the ball and make a crater in the ground,” Larson said. “They rose to the occasion.”
After a service error by the Colonels (one of four in the set), the Judges rallied behind Johnson. The outside hitter cranked off four kills at the start of the Judges’ 11-2 run to close the set. With the score 23-20, the Colonels were unable to handle a pair of serves from Raya Milochova as the Judges completed the rally for a 25-20 win.
The Judges lean often on Johnson, a junior who is slated to play Division I beach volleyball at LSU.
“Breeze can turn it on and she knows when to,” Larson said. “Breeze is just the ultimate competitor and she is stronger and more powerful than she has ever been. She’s peaking at exactly the right time for indoor.”
Braun-Duin, who had a game-high 19 assists in the contest, said she looks for Johnson in tough situations. “She is a great outlet because she is so dependable.”
James Wood coach Joey Young said dropping the first set was tough.
“We had an 18-14 lead and really had some momentum going in that first set,” he said. “They called a timeout and whatever it was, something just changed. We didn’t have the same flow anymore. Even with not having that flow, our kids fought hard and they tried.”
The final two sets were very similar. Handley got the lead early, leading in each set 14-8.
In the second set, the Judges were able to push the lead out to 19-13, but James Wood rallied. The Colonels closed within 20-17 before Bailey ended a long point with a kill to halt the momentum. Johnson’s cross-court blast was the final point in the 25-21 win.
“She has turned it on as well this season,” Larson said of Bailey, who also had three aces. “She’s always been pretty stable. She’s been a good player for us for several years. There is a fire about her this year that I haven’t seen. It’s her senior year and she wants to go out with a bang. She’s doing everything she can to do that.”
In the final set, Braun-Duin’s milestone assist put the Judges ahead 14-8. The Handley lead once again grew to 19-13, but James Wood, fueled by some big swings from Kyla Wilhelm, rallied to within 20-18 and then 23-21. The Judges then finished the set off with Braun-Duin getting the final kill.
Wilhelm led the Colonels with 10 kills and a pair of aces. Kennedi Bower added six kills. Kylee Plumb (11) and Sophia Rodeffer (10) combined for 21 assists. Plumb had nine digs and Young lauded the play of libero Marcie Hewitt, who had seven digs.
Young said the Colonels, who had a five-match winning streak snapped, will look to put the loss behind them.
“They definitely played really hard and gave it their best effort,” Young said. “Unfortunately, it was not our best volleyball. I don’t know what the reason is for that. I told them at the end of the match that we’re going to get back into the gym and work hard and just try to get better.”
Johnson also led the Judges with 13 digs, while Sadie Ambrose notched 10 and Braun-Duin had seven. Milochova fired six aces, while Molly Peterson added 16 assists and three aces.
The Judges will put their winning streak on the line at Millbrook on Thursday. The Pioneers (12-1) are the only team to take Handley to five sets this season.
Judges players admit it will be a challenge and that there’s some pressure in keeping the streak alive.
“We try to not to think about the pressure, but definitely it’s new for us,” Johnson said. “Being an undefeated team, we’ve never seen that before. That can get to us, but coming into this we know teams want to beat us. We just take it as a good thing. We take it as motivation to play better.”
“There’s a little bit, but we really had nothing to lose before this season because we hadn’t beaten Millbrook and James Wood for a while,” Braun-Duin added. “Now that we are undefeated, there is pressure because we have something to lose. But, pressure makes diamonds and I feel like we’ve been doing a great job at just working together.”
Larson liked the mental state of her team and another sweep, the Judges’ 13th of the season, before a large crowd Monday is a good indicator.
“This is a big week for us,” she said. “We knew what James Wood is capable of. They are an awesome team as well. [My team] is really stable. They know it’s there, but they know that undefeated record can be taken away really easily as well. They’re working hard to maintain that doing what they have to do to get the win.”