Houser Tops 1,000 Kills As Wood Volleyball Beats Millbrook 3-2 In Dig Pink Match

Posted: October 8, 2014
By KEVIN TRUDGEON
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Tuesday night featured a sea of pink, a touching tribute and a milestone four years in the making at James Wood’s Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

And there was also a pretty competitive volleyball match thrown in for good measure.

Hosting their annual “Dig Pink” match to raise funds and promote breast cancer awareness, the Colonels watched senior outside hitter Katie Houser top 1,000 kills for her career in a 3-1 (25-19, 24-26, 25-17, 25-13) win over Millbrook.

“It was kind of unreal because it’s just a number, but when you finally get it you realize what it means and how long I’ve been plying for James Wood and it’s just such an honor,” said Houser, who finished with a match-best 31 kills. “It means a lot to do it on our home court and especially in this game.”

Following a pregame dedication to Dena Kent, the mother of former Colonels volleyball player Eleanor Kent and one of the organizers of the first “Dig Pink” match who lost her battle with cancer this past year, James Wood (16-1, 5-0 Northwestern District) got down to business against the Pioneers.

Houser tallied four of the Colonels’ first five points on kills and back-to-back shots from senior Lindsey Painter and a solo block from freshman middle blocker Taylor Heishman staked James Wood to a quick 9-5 lead.

Undeterred, Millbrook (8-5, 2-2) stayed close behind the play of senior middle blocker Ashley Humphrey (match-best 11 blocks) and junior outside hitter Imani Major (team-high nine kills).

A Humphrey kill and block cut the deficit to 12-10 midway through the set and Major’s cross-court kill capped a late four-point run to bring the Pioneers within three at 22-19.

But the Colonels responded with a run of their own, taking advantage of a Millbrook service error to regain control and closing out the first set behind a kill and a block from Heishman.

The second set saw Millbrook score five of the first seven points, James Wood respond with a 5-0 run that included Houser’s 1,000th kill, and it was back-and-forth from there.

Neither team led by more than three points in a set that featured eight ties, including at 20, 21, 22, 23 and 24.

Facing set point and the possibility of falling behind 2-0, Millbrook capitalized on a Colonel hitting error to pull even at 24-24 and a Major kill and a double block from Humphrey and junior middle blocker Meghan Knight gave the Pioneers the set and a 1-1 tie.

“Our goal was to keep them within two points and we accomplished that for the most part in that second set,” said Millbrook coach Ashley Sutphin. “We just wanted to try and shut down whoever we could, be quick with our block and be accurate in trying to read the hitters and they did a good job of that.”

It was the first set James Wood had dropped in nearly a month, and it sparked the kind of response that Colonel coach Jill Couturiaux expects from her team.

“[After the second set] I told them, ‘Why not let Millbrook think they just awoke a sleeping tiger?’ Couturiaux said. “I mean, that should wake us up and we should come out fired up that we dropped a set and I want these girls playing like a championship team throughout the season. I want them to continue to build and progress, not just physically, but also mentally.”

The Pioneers managed to hang close early on in the third set, and a Humphrey tip landed in between three James Wood players to pull Millbrook to within 11-10, but back-to-back kills from Houser and junior opposite Emma Montgomery quickly followed and the Colonels pulled away from there.

Houser added a left-handed shot down the line, senior outside hitter/setter Ashley Hillyard (match-high 27 assists) tallied two kills and an ace from senior Savannah Yost set up set point, which Houser put away on a free ball that ricocheted off Millbrook junior Taylor Linder and sailed five rows up into the bleachers.

“We wanted to be that one team to take James Wood out of one set, because they’ve been sweeping everyone, so that was pretty much our goal,” Major said. “But after that [second] set I think we lost a bit of confidence. We were so excited to take a set and I think we let our intensity drop a level when we should have taken it even higher. And you just can’t let them get going.”

The Pioneers led briefly in the fourth set after a pair of Major aces, but the Colonels rattled off six straight points to reclaim the advantage and never looked back.

Sophomore opposite Leilani Burch eventually clinched the set and the match with a kill.

“My old club coach used to say great teams find a way to win even when they’re not playing well, and we were playing badly,” Houser said. “But we bounced back. We had some hitting errors, but we worked through it.”

Senior libero Ally Iden finished with 25 digs for James Wood and junior libero Brooke Goodwin totaled 20 digs for Millbrook, but Couturiaux was quick to point out that Tuesday night was about a lot more than volleyball.

Since their first “Dig Pink” match in 2008, the Colonels have raised more than $20,000 and Couturiaux said they raised over $6,400 Tuesday, a mark that she said shows how important the players and the community take the event.

“Our very first year of doing this I told the girls in the locker room that we’re playing for the woman who’s fighting to get out of bed in the morning,” Couturiaux said. “It’s about playing with fight and determination and will. and we have the pleasure of being able to perform and play this great game of volleyball for this cause.”

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