September 12, 2012
By GREG BRILL
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Never doubt the magic of a good tune.

Before the start of each set, James Wood’s volleyball team gets a little extra motivated while listening to the strains of “Start Me Up” from the Rolling Stones and “Enter Sandman” from Metallica, among others.

And just moments after the Colonels were finished waxing Skyline 3-0 (25-12, 25-13, 25-13) in their Northwestern District opener on Tuesday night in Shirley Gymnasium, “Don’t Stop Believing” by Journey blared from the loudspeakers.

“Last year we did all the different songs, and this year, our coach picked out ‘Start me up.’” said James Wood sophomore outside Katie Houser, who blasted a match-best 12 kills and had 11 digs in the sweep. “And, yeah, it’s a really good song.”
It wasn’t like James Wood coach Jill Couturiaux needed any extra advantage, though.

The Colonels hammered 33 kills and had just nine attack errors. The Hawks had just nine kills in the match.

If not for 14 missed serves — which accounted for 37 percent of the points totaled by Skyline — James Wood (6-1, 1-0 district) would have had things decided a few minutes sooner than it did (the match did take only 59 minutes to complete).

With a tough match coming up Thursday at Musselman (W.Va.), the Colonels looked relaxed and fluid most of the night with their overall game.

While James Wood’s attacks were spread well by senior setter Emilee Payne (28 assists), the defense did well to limit Skyline to only four kills through the first two sets.

“I was really pleased with our attacking tonight,” Couturiaux said. “We had nine attack errors all night, and that was excellent. We had a couple players take a good bit of swings and not have any hitting errors.

“We’ve been working hard through our offense and worked on hitting some [different] shots. I thought our attackers did well with that tonight.”

From the start of the first set, it was clear the Colonels came to play. James Wood lowered the boom to collect 13 kills against only four attack errors to move out to a 1-0 lead in the match.

The Hawks had trouble covering the whole floor, though play did pick up some for them in that area during stretches of the next two sets.

Skyline could not establish an attack most of the match. In fact, the only kill the Hawks recorded in the 15-minute first set came on the opening exchange of the match.

A pair of slams from Houser helped Skyline out to an 8-6 lead, then an 11-2 run blew the set wide open.

Showing both finesse and power from the front, James Wood attackers had the Hawks (5-2, 0-1) in a constant scramble.

Two straight kills from senior Tarah Wampler, including a two-handed push to the back corner, sent the lead to 10-6.

Another kill by Wampler (seven total in the match), a solo block from senior Erica Hepner, and three more kills from Houser sent the lead out to 18-8.

Another solo block from senior Abigayle Sytsma had the lead at 11, and kills by Payne, sophomore Ashley Hillyard, and Wampler wrapped up the set.

Getting out to a good start proved to be uplifting to the Colonels, according to Houser.

“We came prepared and knew we had to get this match before we play Musselman on Thursday,” Houser said. “Sometimes if we come out flat, it sets the tone. We don’t want to play down to anybody’s level, we always want to play our game.”

The only drawback for James Wood in its first-set win was seven missed serves. The Colonels did cut their number in each set, and kept ahead by continuing to allow Payne to find different hitters for attacks.

In the second set, Houser again totaled five kills, and the serving of Payne provided another spark.

Payne went on a 7-0 run (with a pair of aces) to lift James Wood out to a 22-11 lead. Still up 11 with a few exchanges left, Wampler lowered another kill and a passing mistake by Skyline ended the set.

In her third season as a starter and a second-team all-district pick in 2011, Payne used different ways to set to find her teammates for kills.

“I think it’s good to spread our offense when we can,” Couturiaux said. “And when we get a free ball, not make it so predictable on where we’re going. Just keeping the defense on their heels.

“Our setter [Payne] did a nice job setting with precision, and I think she’s pretty accurate with where she wants to set it. That definitely helps the attackers to expect the ball to be set in the same location for attacks.”

In the third set, James Wood (nine kills, just two attack errors) kept up the onslaught, rolling out to an 18-6 lead. Skyline finally got its first three-point run of the match, and later topped that with a 4-0 burst.

But Payne served out the last four points of the match, ending it with an ace to keep the sweep for the Colonels under an hour.

“We definitely wanted to start out 1-0 [in the district] and we would like to remain unbeaten in the district,” Courturiaux said. “But we know it won’t be easy. We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. The match with Musselman will get us prepared for the district race.”

Sarah Beamer had four kills and an ace to lead Skyline.