James Wood Volleyball’s Painter Has Thrived At New School And Position

Posted: November 21, 2013
By KEVIN TRUDGEON

WINCHESTER — One can never know what the future holds for them, but in the case of Lindsey Painter there’s no doubt she will be able to handle whatever comes her way.

After all the 6-foot-2 junior with the shy smile has been through over the last six months, how could there be?

Since finishing up her sophomore year at Strasburg High School in June, Painter has changed schools (Strasburg to James Wood), changed volleyball teams (Rams to Colonels) and changed positions (middle to outside hitter).

One thing that hasn’t changed, though, has been the product on the court.

Despite playing a position she only began learning the second day of practice back in August, Painter has taken the starting outside hitter position and run with it — and the Colonels have been reaping the benefits ever since.

An undefeated run through the Northwestern District and runners-up finishes in both the Conference 21 and 4A North Region tournaments — with their only losses coming to perennial powerhouse Loudoun County — have James Wood already one step ahead of last year’s record-setting team, and Painter is a big reason why.

“It’s hard to say where we’d be this season without Lindsey, but we wouldn’t be in the state semifinals, that’s for sure,” said James Wood coach Jill Couturiaux, whose Colonels (24-5) will face Jamestown (26-1) in the Group 4A semifinals at 3 p.m. at VCU’s Siegel Center today.

“She’s been a major part of the success we’ve had this season and we’re grateful that she’s here.”

Especially since it was unclear whether or not Painter would actually be wearing blue and gold this season.

Couturiaux admitted that there had been rumblings about Painter transferring to James Wood — her mother works and lives in Winchester — but that nothing was certain until Painter became an official student.

Then things got really interesting.

Couturiaux knew she would be without the six seniors who graduated from last year’s team that reached the state quarterfinals for the first time in a decade, but what she hadn’t planned on was being without the services of reigning Northwestern District Player of the Year Katie Houser.

Sidelined indefinitely with a foot injury, the loss of Houser and her area-best 451 kills meant that the top three hitters from last year’s team — Tarah Wampler (200 kills) and Erica Hepner (97 kills) both graduated — were gone.

Enter Painter.

“With Katie being out I knew we needed to fill a hole on the outside and I wanted to look at Lindsey,” Couturiaux said.

The only problem was that Painter had been playing middle her entire life.

Standing 6-2 and possessing long arms, she was perfect for a position that requires players to move laterally along the net on defense and take quick sets on offense.

“One of the first things we try to nail down as soon as we can is who our outside is going to be,” Couturiaux said. “We do a lot of outside hitter tournaments, a lot of drills because we want our most efficient players, our players with the highest hitting averages, on the left side.

“And I definitely saw potential with having Lindsey playing outside, but I knew it was going to take a lot of work for her ... but once we moved her there was no looking back.”

Starting with a match-best 22 kills in the season-opening win over Kettle Run, Painter hasn’t just handled the move to outside hitter, she’s flourished at it.

On the season she leads the Colonels with 369 kills, to go along with 53 digs and 18 blocks, and is hitting a respectable .251 while admitting that she’s still learning on the job.

“There’s a lot more pressure because you get a lot more balls set to you, but playing outside is fun,” Painter said. “When you’re in the middle you can only hit really when you get a perfect pass, but when you’re on the outside you have to find a way to hit it whether it’s a good pass or a bad pass.

“I’ve had to working on hitting different angles. Being tall has always been an advantage for me and sometimes I can just hit over the block, but I’ve had to learn to hit line or go cross and find the open spots.”

Painter said that Houser has been a big help with the transition, offering up advice during matches when she sees something and helping Painter adjust her arm swing for certain shots.

And the results speak for themselves.

Painter was named to the All-Tournament team along with fellow junior Ashley Hillyard after helping the Colonels win the Third Degree Tournament of Champions in Virginia Beach, she had a match-best 16 kills in a 3-2 win over Handley to secure the Northwestern District title and she added another team-high 16 kills in a 3-1 win over Salem in the 4A North Region semifinals that clinched a state tournament berth.

“She’s been huge for us,” said junior libero Ally Iden, who had played travel ball with Painter along with Houser, Hillyard and fellow juniors Lexi Copley and Savannah Yost. “She’s definitely been a big asset to our team. Just coming in from a kind of lower-intensity program and stepping into such big shoes had to be hard for her, but she’s performed really nicely.”

The only question now is what’s next for Painter and the Colonels?

Win or lose today, James Wood has had another overwhelmingly successful season and could be even better next year.

The Colonels will only lose two seniors from the roster and should be welcoming Houser back into the fold.

That could create a logjam at outside hitter, and possibly lead to yet another position change for Painter, but considering how well she’s handled everything so far, it’s safe to say she’s not too worried about it.

“This season has been more than I could have hoped for. I’ve loved it so far and I can’t wait to see what we’re going to do in the state tournament,” Painter said.

“If they want me to go back to the middle [next year] I wouldn’t argue, but I’ve grown to like playing outside. I just try not to think about it, I just want to go out and play and do the best that I can for my team.”

— Contact Kevin Trudgeon at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. on Twitter @WinStarSports1