Houser Sets Wood’s Career Kill Record In Win Over Sherando

Posted: October 15, 2014
By KEVIN TRUDGEON
The Winchester Star

STEPHENS CITY — Twice the Sherando volleyball team found itself right where it wanted to be Tuesday night — within two points of James Wood at 17-15 and in the hunt for a win in the first and second sets.

And twice the Colonels showed the Warriors that hanging around in a set is one thing, but closing one out is another matter.

James Wood (17-1, 6-0 Northwestern District) pulled away in each of the first two sets with runs of 5-0 and 6-1, respectively, before dominating the third set in a 25-19, 25-18, 25-9 sweep of Sherando Tuesday.

“The first two sets we were staying fairly close to them, only two or three points down, and then we’d just get in a hole of four or five points down and you just can’t come back on that, especially against a good team like James Wood,” said Sherando coach James Minney.

The Colonels had a week to think about dropping their first set in over a month in a 3-1 win over Millbrook, and they were in no mood to slip up again.

A kill from sophomore outside hitter Leilani Burch (five kills) sparked a 5-0 run early in the first set and a rocket from sophomore middle blocker Taylor Heishman (four kills) of a quick set stretched the lead to 17-11.

But the Warriors (7-8, 3-2 Northwestern) battled back, taking advantage of three Colonel hitting errors and a block from senior middle hitter Michelle Baker (five kills and three blocks) to pull to within 17-15.

The run wouldn’t last though, as three straight Sherando errors allowed James Wood to regain control of the set and seniors Katie Houser (team-high 15 kills and five aces) and Ashley Hillyard (11 kills) took care of the rest, combining for four kills and an ace to finish off the set.

“We just really wanted to go out there and play our best, because we need to do that every game and not take any team lightly,” said sophomore setter Megan Hillyard, who finished with a match-best 22 assists. “We just tried to stay intense and even if we made a mistake, we just shook it off and didn’t allow it to get us down.”

The second set played out much like the first one, with Sherando hanging tough behind the play of Baker and junior outside hitter Kelsey Singhas (team-high nine kills) and not allowing the Colonels to get up by more than two or three points.

But after a kill from sophomore middle hitter Melissa Gaudette brought the Warriors to within two at 17-15, James Wood again responded behind the play of Hillyard and Houser.

After a service error gave the ball back to the Colonels, Hillyard hammered home a kill through the Sherando block, Houser ricocheted a shot off a Warrior defender and Hillyard followed with a perfectly placed roll between three defenders.

A Baker kill stopped the damage momentarily, but Houser found an opening with an attack from the back row and senior Lexi Copley closed out the set with an ace.

“I thought offensively we were hitting some shots that we have been working on, so I was pleased that we’re transferring what we do in practice into the match offensively,” said James Wood coach Jill Couturiaux. “I feel like there’s always work to be done, but I was happy.”

Having faltered down the stretch in the first two sets, Sherando hoped to find better success in the third set but James Wood had other plans.

Houser — who broke Emily Shannon’s school record for kills (1,033) with five in the third set to put her at 1,035 for her career — opened up with a kill off the tape and the Colonels raced out to a 14-3 lead that all but put the set, and the match, out of reach.

“We were just not together in the third set, I’m not sure what happened,” said Sherando senior libero Erica Scully. “I think we did good in the first and second sets, just in the third we didn’t come together as much.”

For the match eight different Colonels tallied at least one kill, including the match-clincher from junior opposite Sidney Furr, and senior libero Ally Iden totaled 24 digs.

Minney said the Warriors’ inexperience and youth hurt them in the offensive attack against powerful teams like James Wood, but he was proud of how his team fought in the first and second sets and feels it’s improving with each match.

But he knows the next step is learning how to close out sets that are close down the stretch, something that James Wood has made a habit of doing time and time again.

“It’s nice to have all of the hitters that we do, because you can go anywhere with the ball, you don’t have to rely on just one person, you can spread it around,” Megan Hillyard said. “After every set I feel like we get more and more intense in the game, and that allows us to play better and better as it goes along.”

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