Wood Volleyball Storms Back For 3-1 Win Over Sherando

Posted: September 30, 2015
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Whether it was James Wood junior libero Elizabeth Salata notching her first kill of the season or senior Emma Montgomery’s key block to knot the fourth set for the 10th time, the Colonels’ volleyball team came through with clutch point after clutch point against Sherando.

Five different James Wood players scored the team’s final five points to clinch a thrilling 3-1 (19-25, 25-14, 25-15 and 28-26) Northwestern District victory over Sherando at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium on Tuesday night.

After Montgomery’s block tied it at 26-all for the 10th-and-final time, senior outside hitter Kirsten Mullin’s kill set up the Colonels’ third match point and freshman Taylor Robinson’s ace sealed a hard-fought victory over Sherando (7-3, 0-1), which led by as many as seven early in the fourth set.

“It was 100 percent team effort and we worked together the whole time,” said Montgomery, who had four kills, four blocks and a pair of aces. “If it wasn’t for the team we couldn’t get the win. Once we started getting a run with our kills and our serves it really helped us pull through in the end.”

The end appeared destined for a decisive fifth set as Sherando reeled off six unanswered points and led by as many as seven early in the fourth set before James Wood (9-2, 1-0) pulled even after an ace by junior Leilani Burch knotted it 9-9.

Sherando senior Kelsey Singhas reeled off back-to-back aces to put the Warriors ahead 17-13, but James Wood battled back, tying the match six more times from there.

Salata handled a spike from Singhas and the ball caromed off her hands and found an open spot on Sherando’s side of the court to set up the Colonels’ first match point, 24-23.

“We call that a free-ball kill,” said Salata with a laugh. “First kill of the season — well, at least for me. It was really exciting and I’m glad we pulled through at the end.”

Both teams tried their best to pull out the back-and-forth fourth set.

Sherando fought off two match points, getting a point on a net violation by the Colonels and then a tip from senior opposite Audra Smelser to tie it at 25.

The Warriors had a set point of their own after Burch’s hit sailed into the net, but Montgomery answered with a block on Singhas, whose return of Montgomery’s block found the net.

With the match tied at 26, Mullin’s kill set up the Colonels’ third match point and Robinson closed it out with her second ace of the match.

“We spotted them six points and had to come back and get it,” said James Wood first-year coach Stephen Reaves. “Man, [Sherando] played hard at the end. That kid who plays O-H [outside hitter, Singhas] is very good. They gave us all we could handle. That game could’ve gone either way, easily.”

James Wood took control of the match by taking the momentum midway through the third set.

After three early ties, Montgomery put the Colonels ahead for good with a kill followed by a block to make it 10-8.

Three straight blocks from Heishman capped 10-3 run that stretched the Colonels’ lead to 20-11.

James Wood closed out the third set with a kill from sophomore Morgan Biggs off an assist from junior setter Megan Hillyard (a match-best 35 assists) for a 25-15 win.

The Colonels never trailed in the second set, getting four kills from Robinson and key blocks along the way from both Montgomery and Heishman. A double block from Montgomery and Burch staked James Wood to its largest lead up to that point at 22-12. On the third set point, Montgomery closed out the set with a kill.

Sherando coach James Minney credited James Wood’s play, particularly after the Warriors seemingly had momentum after a 25-19 win in the opening set.

“We struggled and our lack of height hurts us too,” Minney said. “[James Wood] played well and I don’t think we played horrible. They just forced us to do things we don’t normally do and they took us out of our rhythm and out of our offense.

“We couldn’t do what we normally do and that’s a credit to them. The fast-pace game really helped them out a lot. ... We couldn’t get the ball to where we needed to get the ball as far as setting. They were pinning us against the net and they were pinning us outside.”

Another key factor was James Wood’s defense, which did a nice job covering the court.

Three James Wood players — Mullin (nine), Burch (eight) and Salata (six) — combined for 23 digs.

“That’s a ton,” said Reaves of the trio’s dig total. “Those three did a lot of work.”

Although Sherando took its first set from the Colonels since the 2013 season, Minney said his team now knows what it needs to work on for the rematch — which will count as the Conference 21A matchup — at home on Oct. 15.

“We’ll see them again,” Minney said. “The good thing is we see [Wood] and Millbrook this week in non-conference and we get into conference next week with Handley so that helps. Now we know what we’re up against and we’ve got some film on them.”

Singhas said her team just didn’t capitalize on enough of its opportunities, particularly in the tightly-contested fourth set.

“We tried to fight the whole time,” said Singhas, who had a match-best 12 kills along with two aces and two blocks. “We just didn’t want to give up and battled through that whole fourth set.

“I feel like the teams are pretty even but you never know what happens in the next game. Just playing them once, we’ll get to know what they’re going to do next time and we’ll be prepared.”

Heishman said her team’s ability to come through with a clutch victory should boost its confidence going forward.

“We know what our team is capable of,” Heishman said. “After last year [a pair of 3-0 sweeps over Sherando], we knew they wanted to come into our gym and beat us and we weren’t going to let that happen.”

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

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