Colonels Volleyball Undaunted By Long Trip To Grafton For State Semifinal

Posted: November 18, 2014
By KEVIN TRUDGEON
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Long bus rides and road playoff matches in front of hostile crowds have become something of the norm for the James Wood volleyball team the last 12 days.

Since beating Woodgrove at home in the friendly confines of Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium in the Conference 21 semifinals back on Nov. 4, the Colonels have become veritable road warriors.

They’ve twice traveled to Leesburg to face two-time defending state champion Loudoun County (40 miles) in both the conference and region finals, and they survived long trips to Fluvanna (147 miles) and Jefferson Forest (178 miles) in do-or-die elimination matches.

So while today’s four-hour, 210-mile journey to take on Grafton — which is located in Yorktown — in the Group 4A state semifinals may be the longest of their recent road trips, coach Jill Couturiaux and the Colonels aren’t worrying about the distance.

“As far as traveling goes, we’re not going to use it as an excuse,” said Couturiaux after practice Monday. “It would have been great to host here, especially for the seniors, but we’ve been through this before and we know what we need to do.”

James Wood (25-4) will be facing a team it shares a lot of similarities with in the Clippers.

Grafton (20-7) reached the state semifinals last season, just like the Colonels, and secured today’s home game by beating longtime nemesis Jamestown, which had beaten the Clippers seven straight times over the last two years, in five sets in the 4A South Region final.

James Wood nearly pulled off the same feat in the 4A North Region final on Saturday, pushing Loudoun County to five sets before suffering their third loss of the season to the Raiders, and sixth straight of the past three seasons.

The Clippers are led by second-year coach Karissa Cumberbatch and a lineup that features just three seniors but plenty of talent across the board.

Four different players have at least 120 kills on the season, with 5-foot-7 junior outside hitter Sophia Beaudoin (268 kills) and 5-foot-11 middle blocker Rachel Blitt (200 kills) leading the way.

“I have four girls who can contribute [offensively], which a lot of coaches can’t say,” Cumberbatch said. “I think that makes it hard for teams to prepare for us, and Rachel has had a really good postseason for us.”

Blitt and 6-foot-1 sophomore Sam Heard have combined for 71 blocks, 5-foot-10 senior setter Christa Hall — the Conference 19 and 4A South Region Player of the Year — paces the Clippers in assists (510) and digs (345) and five different players have at least 34 aces on the season.

“We watched a little bit of film on them from this year and they have some decent attackers, but I’m sure they’ve gotten this far with skills other than attacking,” Couturiaux said. “They’ve probably got good ball control, they’re probably strong, consistent servers and they’re probably good in serve receive.

“We don’t know a lot about them, but they’re coming off a huge win over Jamestown where they broke their 63-match home winning streak, and from what I saw they were putting up good blocks against Jamestown. So they’re probably quick at the net to read the attack. From what I’ve seen there’s nothing flashy about Grafton, they just make very few mistakes and they’re a very consistent team.”

Grafton will have its hands full with a James Wood attack that features senior outside hitter Katie Houser, who currently ranks fourth all-time in the VHSL for kills in a season with 538 (the record is 581), but has plenty of options around her.

In Saturday’s five-set loss to Loudoun County, senior setter/outside hitter Ashley Hillyard finished with 19 assists and 10 kills, sophomore middle blocker Taylor Heishman totaled nine blocks, and senior libero Ally Iden followed up her 34-dig performance against Jefferson Forest with another strong showing along the back line.

“They’re a good team, but obviously there’s a lot of pressure on [Houser] to perform,” Cumberbatch said. “We don’t have to necessarily stop her, but if we can contain her, limit her kills and not let one player beat us, I think that we can be successful.”

James Wood reached the state quarterfinals for the first time in 10 years in 2012, made it to the state semifinals last year, and this year’s senior-laden team has made it no secret that it’s finals or bust this season.

Couturiaux said she stressed sleep and mental preparation Monday night, and she expects her team to come out ready to go against the Clippers.

“This is our last week together as a team, regardless of the outcome,” Couturiaux said. “This is our last week and I just reminded them of that and asked them what they were going to do with this time.

“We won’t use [traveling for the semifinal] as an excuse, we’re OK with going down there to play [Grafton]. At this point in the season you’re going to have to beat a good team away from home, and that’s what we have to do.”

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