Posted: November 14, 2012
By SARA BONOVITCH
Special to The Winchester Star

WILLIAMSBURG — James Wood volleyball’s run at the Group AA state title fell short Tuesday night as the Colonels (22-5) dropped three straight sets to the Bay Rivers District and Region I champion Jamestown Eagles.

Despite an early lead in the third set, the Colonels quickly dropped back and watched as Jamestown surged to the 3-0 (25-16, 25-15, 25-14) victory and clinched a state semifinals berth.

“It’s a privilege and an honor to have made it this far,” said James Wood coach Jill Couturiaux of her team’s postseason run.

“Jamestown is a very good program and it was just hard handling their serves. We had a hard time adjusting our defense [to them].”
Setter Monique St. Cyr pushed Jamestown to an early lead in the first set as she served up three-straight points. But James Wood sophomore Katie Houser quickly answered with two kills into midcourt to give the Colonels their first two points.

Each team went point-for-point to open the match. James Wood managed to keep a tie set before Kelby Jackson served back-to-back points to hand the Colonels an 8-7 advantage. Strong rallies and defense on both sides of the net kept the game close.

But James Wood dropped to a three-point deficit after serving the ball out of bounds and St. Cyr added four aces for a 17-13 Jamestown advantage. From there the Eagles broke away to an eight-point lead and never looked back, winning the first set 25-16.

The start of the second set looked much like the first. One team would answer the other, going point-for-point. Senior Abby Sytsma served the Colonels first point for a brief 1-0 lead. It was short-lived, though, as the next serve was hit out of bounds.

Kelly Esch and Victoria Bowen had back-to-back kills to give the Eagles an 8-6 advantage and that was quickly extended as Jamestown climbed to a 15-7 advantage.

Houser showed strength at the net for James Wood with a couple of kills, cutting the margin to six points. But Jamestown held the opposition at arm’s length as Saskia Bietzell tipped the ball over and James Wood couldn’t recover.

Jackson missed one final dig and chance for a rally as Jamestown took the second set 25-15.

The Colonels largest lead of the night came in the third set. Houser led off with hits into a vacant

Jamestown court to lift James Wood to a 2-0 lead. Jamestown caught up but the Colonels managed to hold a one-point advantage.

But as in the first two sets, the Eagles gained a lead and didn’t fall behind again.

Sullivan and Sutton combined to push Jamestown to a 15-11 lead. Houser kept the Colonels in the match, adding kills at the net. The Eagles, though, had no trouble answering and hanging onto a six-point lead. Bowen served up the match-winner for Jamestown’s 25-14 victory.

“Katie [Houser] led our team tonight,” said Couturiaux after the loss. “She’s played high-level volleyball. [Jamestown] is just an all-around solid team.”

Houser led James Wood with 14 kills. Ashley Hillyard posted nine assists while Jackson had a team-high eight digs. Erica Hepner and Sytsma had one block apiece.

Jamestown was led by Sutton’s 11 digs and Esch’s 11 kills. St. Cyr totaled 31 assists in the Eagles win.

Jamestown will travel to Richmond for the Group AA semifinals on Friday at 7 p.m. at VCU’s Siegel Center.