September 18, 2012
By Greg Brill
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — The James Wood volleyball team might not have had its most fluid match of the season on Monday night, but the Colonels were better than Spotswood at reaching point 25.

Perhaps a bit tired after playing three matches last week, the Colonels dug deep and survived four tight sets with the Trail Blazers to win 3-1 (25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 25-21) at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

In a match that saw plenty of momentum swings through 189 exchanges, James Wood (7-2 overall) rallied late in each of the three sets it won to gain a season-sweep over Spotswood (1-4).
The Trail Blazers were coming off a loss in the championship round of their own tournament over the weekend to Handley, an event that helped Spotswood’s players gain some needed confidence heading into Monday’s match.

“The tournament gave us some confidence,” Spotswood coach Jim Roth said. “We beat some good teams, and I think once our girls gained some confidence, then it’s a lot easier to play that way.”

The Trail Blazers did a good job of withstanding James Wood’s attacks many times on Monday night, but the Colonels had all the right stuff to rally back and finish sets a lot better.

Each set had plenty of drama, but after losing the third set, James Wood rallied from a 21-20 deficit to win the fourth set and close out the match.

After Savannah Yost (who did not play until the fourth set) found an opening in the corner on the back row to tie the set, senior middle Erica Hepner got an ace on a let-serve to send the Colonels back ahead.

From there, the skills of sophomore outside Katie Houser again proved to be the difference.

Mixing in power and finesse throughout the match, Houser got three straight kills to seal things.

After her attack was deflected to provide a two-point lead, Houser went with a soft kill to the front before lifting up and sending a set down to the front with power to clinch the win.

Though Houser (25 kills, 10 in the fourth set) had nearly twice as many kills than anyone else recorded on the night, the Colonels got some crucial balance late in sets to definitely make it a team win.

“We proved that we can close a match, no matter how far we are behind,” said Hepner, who finished with five kills and a team-best four solo blocks in the win. “We had great defense, so it had to make us push even harder to win.”

Both teams had 10 or more kills in the opening set, but Spotswood could not hold on after building a 21-15 lead.

A tip by setter Emilee Payne (44 assists, 12 digs) got James Wood on the right track, and two kills by senior Tarah Wampler keyed a 10-2 surge to close the first set.

A solo block by Hepner provided the clinching point.

In the second set, the Trail Blazers were again in good shape after moving out to a 14-9 lead. The attacks of senior Alyse High (team-best 11 kills in the match), senior Kate Nelson (10 kills), and junior Tabitha Nelson (eight kills) kept Spotswood competing the entire way.

But James Wood again got on a roll, going on a 8-2 run to take its first lead of the set since 1-0.

Wampler, who provided hitting support with her 13 kills, had two during the spurt, including down the line for a 17-16 lead.

The set would be tied five more times, but Houser sent another attack down for a kill to bring set-point, and an attack error by High allowed James Wood to move ahead 2-0 in the match.

“It could have went either way in the first couple [sets], but in the last set-and-a-half, their No. 7 [Houser], we couldn’t find a way to stop her,” Roth said. “She hits the ball very well, as far as hitting it down.”

Houser was indeed on top of her game for long stretches in every set, but the overall efforts of her teammates were just as important.

After Spotswood held off another James Wood rally in the third set to extend the match, the Colonels worked hard on the floor to keep balls alive with their defense to set Houser and others for attacks to win rallies.

The defense, led by senior Kelby Jackson (match-best 18 digs) and classmate Payne, provided just the spark.

On a team that returned nine players and has six seniors on the roster, Hepner said she and her classmates have tried to provide whatever help they can to keep James Wood successful.

“This [win] is really going to prepare us for our [Northwestern] district matches, and that’s what we’re really focusing on,” Hepner said. “We’re [the seniors] are all working really, really hard to be the leaders on the team, because you need leaders out there.”

James Wood coach Jill Couturiaux said she felt her team came out flat and might have been tired after playing three matches last week (including a 3-0 loss to West Virginia power Musselman on Thursday).

“It took us a long time to get into rhythm,” Couturiaux said. “But I never lost faith in the team. Even with our attacking errors, I knew once we got focused and got our minds right we would come out and play James Wood volleyball the way we knew how. It just took a little longer to do it than I would have liked.”