Volleyball Preview: Wood’s Houser Out With Injury

Posted: August 28, 2013
By KEVIN TRUDGEON

WINCHESTER — The switch to a new postseason format won’t be the only change in the local volleyball scene this season.

Coming off a sweep of the Northwestern District regular season and tournament championships and its first state tournament appearance in a decade, James Wood seemed to be the presumptive favorite heading into this year, but the Colonels won’t have one of their biggest weapons for all of 2013.

Reigning Northwestern District Player of the Year — and The Winchester Star Female Athlete of the Year — Katie Houser is not expected to suit up for the Colonels this season.

The 5-foot-11 outside hitter, who totaled an area-best 451 kills and was an All-Region II first team selection and All-Group AA honorable mention as a sophomore, suffered a foot injury during the outdoor track season that she thought might force her to miss a few of the early matches this year.

Instead, Houser will have surgery soon and then will need to rehab five to six weeks, making her return to the court this season all but impossible

“It’s tough because she’s a great player, but obviously we want her to get healthy,” said James Wood coach Jill Couturiaux.

The loss of Houser is a big one for the Colonels, but they have no plans of letting it torpedo their season.

Couturiaux said they’ve worked on filling the hole on the outside and the arrival of Strasburg transfer Lindsey Painter should help, as well as the return of fellow outside hitter Brandi Griffith.

James Wood also brings back junior setter Ashley Hillyard, who Couturiaux expects big things from, as well as juniors Ally Iden and Savannah Yost, who both got playing experience last year.

“I feel like the talent is there,” Couturiaux said. “A lot of these girls have competed during the travel season at a very high level and confidence comes from that experience.”

Experience should be one of the strong points for a Handley squad that handed James Wood its only loss in district last season and won the program’s first regional match since 1996.

Judges coach Lindsay Cole, formerly Lindsay Hazelette, returns six seniors, including All-District second team selection Semefa Tettegah.

“I think we’re strong with leadership, we have a lot of playing experience on the court,” Cole said. “We should be very versatile at every position.”

Sherando will be without its top two hitters in Jessica Henry and Cassie Slater, but coach Chuck Ashby feels like he has a more athletic squad that should be faster both offensively and defensively.

“I think a big part for us is Blair [Adams] having a year under her belt of varsity setting experience,” Ashby said. “She’s taken on a leadership role and has really just been pushing the team to get better.”

Millbrook will hope to rebound from a disappointing season in coach Ashley Sutphin’s first year, and should be better with underclassmen Taylor Linder and Ashley Humphrey back in the fold, and Clarke County will have a new face at the helm as James Wood graduate Seneca Sowers takes over a program that will be dealing with heavy turnover due to graduation (five seniors) and injuries (juniors Sydney Chrane and Anna Blue Catlett are both expected to miss the entire season).

Another new facet to the season will be the implementation of a six-classification system that will do away with the role of district competition when it comes to postseason berths.

Where in the past the district regular season champ would automatically advance to regionals, as well as the top finisher in the district tournament who wasn’t the regular season champion, conference tournaments will now decide who moves on.

James Wood, Millbrook and Sherando will be grouped in Conference 21 of the Group 4A North Region along with Dominion, Heritage, Loudoun County, Park View and Woodgrove, while Handley will be in Conference 23 of the 4A North Region with Charlottesville, Fluvanna, Louisa County, Amherst County and Harrisonburg.

Clarke County is in Conference 35 of the Group 2A East Region with Madison County, George Mason, Strasburg, Stonewall Jackson, Luray and Page County.

A single-elimination tournament will take place in each conference at the end of the regular season, with the two championship-game participants moving on to their respective region tournaments.

“I’m kind of excited about the change,” Ashby said. “I’m a little nervous because there weren’t enough openings in the schedule to see all of the conference teams, but it should be interesting to see how it all works out.”

James Wood

Coach: Jill Couturiaux, sixth year

Last year: 22-5, Northwestern District regular season and tournament champions, lost in Group AA quarterfinals

Key losses: Kelby Jackson, Tarah Wampler, Erica Hepner.

Top returnees: Ashley Hillyard, Jr., setter; Ally Iden, Jr., libero; Brandi Griffith, Sr., outside hitter; Savannah Yost, Jr., outside hitter; Katie Houser, Jr., outside hitter.

Top newcomers: Lindsey Painter, Jr., outside hitter; Lexi Copley, Jr., outside hitter; Abbye Prelip, Jr., defensive specialist; Megan Hillyard, Fr., setter; Leilani Burch, Fr., outside; Molly Tierney, Sr., middle blocker; Emma Montgomery, So., middle blocker; Taylor Heishman, Fr., middle blocker.

Couturiaux’s outlook: “We definitely feel like we set the bar for James Wood volleyball last year and we know that there’s some pressure that comes with that, but that’s OK. We want to show that we’re not a one-time thing, we want to show that we have just as much opportunity this year as we did last year.”

Next game: Today, at Fauquier, 7

Handley

Coach: Lindsay Cole, sixth year

Last year: 16-7, Northwestern District runner-up, lost in Region II semifinals

Key losses: Alison Snow, Dierdre Carter, Alex Barnett, Ana Ribeiro (foreign exchange student).

Top returnees: Liz Grove, Sr., outside hitter; Semefa Tettegah, Sr., middle hitter; Allie Hoffman, Sr., setter; Molly Mintschenko, Sr., libero; Rachel Dodson, Sr., middle hitter; Emily Snow, Jr., outside hitter; Alexis Zygmunt, Jr., outside hitter.

Top newcomer: Nichole Smith, Sr., setter; Liz Homan, So., middle hitter.

Cole’s outlook: “We just want to finish district play with a winning record and go into conference as either the first or second seed, make it to a regional game and go farther than we did last year.”

Opener: Thursday, vs. Briar Woods, 7:15

Sherando

Coach: Chuck Ashby, sixth year

Last year: 11-10

Key losses: Jessia Henry, Cassie Slater, Ryan Magalis.

Top returnee: Blair Adams, Sr., setter; Erica Scully, Jr., defensive specialist; Erin Magalis, Jr., defensive specialist;, Clare Milburn, Jr., defensive specialist; Michelle Baker, Jr. hitter.

Top newcomers: Alaina Combs, Sr., hitter; Whitney Dellinger, Sr., hitter; Anna Haycocks, Jr., hitter; Kelsey Singhas, So., hitter; Mackenzie Cornwell, Fr., hitter; Melissa Marshall, Jr., hitter.

Ashby’s outlook: “Conference play will be tough because we won’t be seeing them at all [during the regular season]. We want to be that one or two seed in our district and somehow avoid Loudoun County for as long as possible [in conference].”

Next game: Thursday, vs. Spotswood, 7

Millbrook

Coach: Ashley Sutphin, second year

Last year: 5-16

Key losses: Brittany Whitacre, Courtney Adams, Krista Winston

Top returnees: None mentioned

Top newcomers: None mentioned

Sutphin’s outlook: “I think our team goal this year, and maybe even my personal goal, would be to win 75 percent of our games, which would be a definite improvement and is definitely achievable.”

Next game: Sept. 7, at Spotswood Invitational, 10 a.m.

Clarke County

Coach: Seneca Sowers, first year

Last year: 17-8

Key losses: Ammie Levi, Isabella Eyles, Olivia Hart, Mollie Schoeb, Victoria McManamay, Amelia Erickson, Sydney Chrane (ACL injury), Anna Blue Catlett (broken collarbone).

Top returnees: Taylor Weir, Sr.; Tess Ashby, Sr,; Stephanie Nelson, Sr.; Sarah Nelson, Sr.; Jacquelyn Tredway, Sr.; Amanda Robinson, Sr.

Top newcomers: Madison Mackintosh, Jr.; Hannah Ravenscroft, So.; Jaime Hoggatt, Jr.; Kaitlyn Turner, Jr.; Allegra Eyles, So.; Javonna Lansdown, Fr.

Sowers’ outlook: “We obviously lost a lot of our key varsity players from last year. The girls have been working really hard to try and fill those positions and to play together as a team, not as individuals.”

Next game: Thursday, vs. Rappahannock, 7

SVCA

Coach: Ellie Wheelock

Last year: 16-2, reached VACA state tournament

Key losses: Kayla Freemire, Hayley North, Sarah McGann.

Top returnees: Carol Bartholomew, Jr.; Krista Freemire, Jr.; Hannah McGann, Jr.

Top newcomers: Hannah Berger, Fr.; Megan Bowers, Fr.

Wheelock’s outlook: “I didn’t know what to expect after losing such key players from last year, but the juniors are all stepping up. We have a pretty talented team.”

Next game: Sept. 5, at Highland View, 5

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