Posted: October 26, 2012
By ROBERT STOCKS

WINCHESTER — With Handley senior leading hitter Dierdre Carter watching from the sideline in Thursday night’s Northwestern District volleyball showdown with James Wood, the Judges could have had a letdown.

But junior Ana Ribeiro and her Handley teammates turned in perhaps their best effort of the season without the team’s top outside hitter.

Ribeiro came through a team-high 13 kills and 15 digs, and the Judges’ front-line players collectively stepped up to lead Handley to a stunning 3-1 (27-25, 20-25, 25-15, 25-22) district win to spoil James Wood’s Senior Night at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.
The Judges (14-4, 7-1) snapped the Colonels’ 10-match winning streak, dealing James Wood (17-3, 7-1) its first district loss and forcing a one-game playoff Monday night at 6 p.m. at Handley for the regular season district title and the top-seed in next week’s district tournament.

Carter injured her ankle during practice Wednesday, and Ribeiro said the team wanted to go out and compete for her.

“After Dierdre got hurt [yesterday] we got together and we said we’re going to make it work and we’re going to do it for her because she isn’t here,” said Ribeiro, a junior exchange student from Brazil. “We needed someone to step up and the whole team did it. We played together as one like always.”

With Carter sidelined, Ribeiro led the way, but the Judges’ front-line players stepped up collectively to fill the void left by Carter, who walked gingerly in pre-game introductions but was using crutches for her injured left ankle. Junior outside hitter Liz Grove had eight kills, and juniors Semefa Tettagah and Rachel Dodson added five kills apiece.

“The girls stepped up to the challenge and they knew what this meant,” Handley coach Lindsay Hazelette said. “Everyone contributed and it was defintely a team effort just showing how far our team can go in depth and talent. They backed up their pride for Handley and played with a lot of heart.”

With so many Handley players stepping up, it was Grove who made sure Handley didn’ t let an early 12-3 advantage slip away in the fourth set as she hammered home a kill on the Judges’ fifth match point to clinch a 25-22 win.

James Wood rallied from an early nine-point deficit and cut Handley’s lead down to one, but three-straight hitting errors pushed the Judges lead back to 19-15.

A kill by Emily Snow gave the Judges a 24-18 lead, but James Wood sophomore Katie Houser (a match-high 18 kills) kept the Colonels in it through four match points. She had two kills and an ace to spark four straight points by the Colonels before Grove clinched it with a kill on the fifth match point.

Grove said the team did want to step in and contribute in Carter’s absence, but she said the team definitely wanted to payback the Colonels after James Wood beat Handley on its homecourt 3-2 on Oct. 9.

“I think we knew this [win] was what we wanted,” Grove said. “I think it was just more this was our goal and we’re getting there — we’re doing it.”

The Judges’ drive was never more evident than in the pivotal third set after Houser’s seven kills led James Wood to a 25-20 win in the second set to even the match 1-1.

Handley senior Alex Barnett (a team-high five blocks) had a kill and a block to put the Judges ahead 14-10 in the third set.

From there, Ribeiro added a pair of kills that capped a 6-1 Handley run to push the Judges’ lead to 17-11.

The Judges’ lead never dipped below five the rest of the way en route to a 25-15 win in the third set. The Colonels had eight service errors in the third and struggled with their attack throughout the match.

“We had 27 errors and only 36 kills as a team,” James Wood coach Jill Couturiaux said. “As a team we hit .067 and that’s something that we’ve never done.

“But kudos to Handley for staying aggressive tonight. I don’t think they were ever not aggressive tonight. When we were trying to be aggressive we were just making too many hitting errors.”

The Colonels’ errors were never more glaring than in the fourth set.

Couturiaux used a timeouts after Handley jumped out to an early 8-3 lead, and then four straight points (two kills by Ribeiro and one each from Tettegah and Dodson) forced Couturiaux to call her final timeout with the Colonels staring at 12-3 deficit.

Despite the early 9-point deficit, the Colonels chipped away at Handley’s lead and nearly pulled even after back-to-back kills from Houser and Emilee Payne cut the Judges’ lead to 16-15.

With a one-point Handley lead, James Wood committed three straight hitting errors that helped the Judges pull away for a six-point advantage.

On Senior Night for Payne, libero Kelby Jackson (12 digs), Erica Hepner, Tarah Wampler (seven kills, three aces), Abby Sytsma (four blocks) and Catherine Legge, it definitely wasn’t the type of performance the Colonels envisioned with a chance to go unbeaten in the district and clinch the top seed for the district tournament and earn the Region II tournament berth that comes with it.

“We had a lot of hitting errors this time, and [the Judges] were definitely on their game,” said Payne, who led James Wood with 25 assists. “They were tooling off of our block a lot which was really difficult to focus on and know where it was going. They brought it, and we just fell behind and couldn’t come back.”

Now, the Judges get an opportunity to clinch the top seed for the district tournament and secure a regional playoff berth on their home court Monday night against the Colonels.

“We were so excited after last time losing a really close game [to the Colonels], and I think the entire team [gave] 110 percent all the time we were there and we were focused,” Grove said. “Handley’s taking districts.”

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