James Wood Sweeps Pioneers

Posted: October 25, 2013
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — James Wood High School’s volleyball team could find plenty of reasons for not being at its best at different times throughout the year.

The Colonels lost reigning Northwestern District Player of the Year Katie Houser to an injury before the season even started, and more recently they’ve had several players dealing with colds.

Junior outside hitter Lindsey Painter missed Thursday night’s Northwestern District match against Millbrook because of an illness, and the Colonels made sure they didn’t miss a beat despite not having the 6-foot-2 Painter on the court.

Junior Ashley Hillyard had a game-high 14 kills, freshman Megan Hillyard added a game-high 16 assists, and junior libero Ally Iden made a match-best 13 digs in the Colonels’ 3-0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-16) win over Millbrook on the Pioneers’ Senior Night at Casey Gymnasium.

“We’re a team that definitely overcomes adversity,” said James Wood coach Jill Couturiaux, whose team won its ninth consecutive match to improve to 18-3, 6-0 Northwestern. “Losing Katie at the start of the season, and then having another big outside hitter like Lindsey out — I think the girls refuse to make any excuses for themselves when it comes to getting the job done.”

The Colonels got the job done quickly (in just over an hour) against the Pioneers (3-11, 1-6) with Emma Montgomery (six kills) moving to right side, and freshman Leilani Burch switching to opposite to adjust for Painter’s absence. Freshman Taylor Heishman filled in for Montgomery in the middle.

Even with the position changes, James Wood looked strong throughout against the Pioneers.

James Wood’s hitters made few attack errors and that helped the Colonels string points together and maintain the momentum throughout the match.

Four different James Wood players scored points during a 5-0 run that helped the Colonels take control of the opening set. Savannah Yost had a kill, Brandi Griffith had an ace, and Montgomery followed with a block to stretch the Colonels’ lead to 19-9.

Millbrook trimmed the lead down to five, but Ashley Hillyard scored Wood’s final two points to close out a 25-19 victory in the opening set.

“A lot of people were playing different positions since Lindsey has pneumonia, and I thought everyone did real well on the short notice switch of lineups,” said Ashley Hillyard. “I thought we adjusted well to that. Emma and Leilani both did a really good job and adjusted well.”

James Wood never trailed in the second set, and Hillyard led the Colonels’ attack.

After back-to-back hitting errors by the Pioneers, Hillyard’s fifth kill of the set pushed James Wood’s lead to 19-12. She added two more the rest of the way, the second of which came off an assist by her younger sister Megan to extend the Colonels’ lead to 23-15.

James Wood closed it out from there, getting kills from senior Molly Tierney and Griffith to win at 15.

Millbrook coach Ashley Sutphin said the Colonels’ all-around play makes it a difficult matchup.

“I think we brought a stronger game and stronger defense [compared to the first meeting with Wood] ,” Sutphin said. “They’re defenitely a solid team. They’re coverage and their ability to get to any hits. They’re pretty consistent, and a good team.”

The Colonels only trailed once in the third set and they quickly erased the one-point deficit.

Sophomore Imani Major’s ace put Millbrook ahead early 5-4, but James Wood answered quickly, regaining the lead after a kill by Tierney followed by an errant hit by the Pioneers.

Tierney’s kill was the first point in an 9-0 run by the Colonels. Tierney followed with an ace, Burch added a kill and Ashley Hillyard’s push found an open spot on the court to stake the Colonels to a 9-5 advantage. Millbrook made four straight hitting errors or violations to give James Wood a commanding 13-5 lead.

The Colonels never trailed by less than seven the rest of the way en route to their 12th sweep of the season.

“I thought we just really passed well, and we were confident and we were really prepared too,” said Heishman, who had three kills and a block. “We knew what we needed to do and we got it done.”

Millbrook honored its five seniors — Sarah Duvall, Brooke Russell, Kaitlyn Oates, Holly Stevens and Kendal Bohan (three kills and an ace) — prior to Thursday night’s match.

Sophomore Taylor Linder led the Pioneers with six kills, and junior Ashley Humphrey had a game-high five blocks and added two kills.

— Contact Robert Stocks at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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