Wood Volleyball Takes 4-Set Battle With Judges

Posted: September 30, 2016
By ROBERT STOCKS
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — James Wood senior Megan Hillyard said she only remembers close matches, so Thursday night’s Northwestern District volleyball match against Handley likely won’t be one that the Colonels’ setter and her teammates soon forget.

The unbeaten Colonels needed to survive four Handley set points in the fourth set, and James Wood needed three match points to close out a 23-25, 29-27, 25-12 and 29-27 victory at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

Thursday’s match didn’t count for conference play between the Conference 21 West rivals, but both teams sure played like it.

James Wood senior outside hitter Leilani Burch led the Colonels with 19 kills, sophomore hitter Jessica Putnam added 16 kills and senior middle hitter Taylor Heishman finished with 13 kills.

Neither team led by more than three points in a fourth set that featured 14 ties and eight lead changes.

"Every time we sided out they would get the ball back immediately," said Hillyard, who had a game-high 50 assists. "Those are the most stressful, but fun games because the crowds get excited. When they serve our loud crowd is cheering, and when they serve our loud cloud is cheering.

"Those are the games you remember. You don’t remember the games when you crush a team. You remember games where there’s excitement, there’s fear and when you get a kill you’re just so pumped.’

The Colonels (11-0, 2-0 Northwestern District) trailed by two or three points throughout much of the fourth set before James Wood’s hitters stepped up.

Handley (3-6, 0-2 district) appeared ready to send the match into a decisive fifth set after junior outside hitter Maggie Wise’s kill put the Judges ahead 23-21, forcing the Colonels’ second timeout.

After a hitting error by the Colonels gave the Judges set point, James Wood responded with four straight points.

The Colonels battled through three consecutive set points after an errant hit by Handley cut the Judges’ lead to 24-22. After a kill and then a block by James Wood junior Morgan Biggs knotted the score at 24-24. Burch gave the Colonels two match points, but hitting errors brought the match even each time and squared the score at 26-26.

Another errant hit by Wood gave Handley its fourth set point at 27-26, but Putnam answered with back-to-back kills to put the Colonels ahead 28-27.

On the Colonels’ third set point, Wise’s attack sailed long, giving Wood a hard-fought, four-set victory.

"It’s really invigorating and it makes everybody else pumped up and fired up," said Putnam of the Colonels’ rally to close out the fourth set. "Every win is important to the team, and it gives us confidence. We keep fighting every game.

"I think both teams fought hard, and Handley has always been very good defensively and offensively. It was a very good matchup."

Both teams fought hard and three of the four sets could have gone either way.

James Wood reeled off seven unanswered points to take a 7-1 lead in the first set, only to see Handley battle back.

Wise sparked Handley in the first set. She tied it at 11 with a kill, and then put the Judges ahead with an ace. Sarah Snow added a kill, and Wise (21 kills, 12 digs) added another ace — her seventh point of the set — to put the Judges ahead 14-11.

Handley led by as many as six before the Colonels responded with a 10-5 run capped by an ace from Elizabeth Salata that put James Wood ahead 20-19.

The Colonels led 23-19 after an errant hit by the Judges, but Handley scored five straight to take the set. Wise had a pair of kills, and Neysha Washington added a kill and two aces, including one on set point to close out the first set for Handley 25-23.

The second set featured 12 ties and eight lead changes.

Heishman’s tip ended nearly a minute-long rally to knot the score at 27. The Colonels took the second set 29-27 after back-to-back errant hits by the Judges.

"We needed to tie it up," said Hillyard, who also had 14 digs. "Going into a third set being down 0-2 — you’ve got fear because if you lose that third set you’re done. We needed to get that [second set] just to bring life back to us."

The Colonels never trailed in the third set.

Heishman had a block and kill, and sophomore Taylor Robinson’s kill capped a 7-0 run by the Colonels to open the third set. Handley never cut the lead to less than four as James Wood received back-to-back kills from Heishman and Burch to close out a 25-12 win.

James Wood coach P.W. Hillyard liked how his team battled back after dropping the first set and then fought through two more tough sets.

"The girls showed a lot of character, and Handley played really well," Hillyard said. "Every time you play Handley you know you’re going to get their best, and I thought they played awesome tonight. I was really proud of our girls for coming back after being down in both those second and fourth sets and winning."

Handley coach Lindsay Cole said it was a hard-fought match that her team can learn from for when the two teams meet again in the conference matchup on Oct. 27 on the Judges’ home court.

"It was tight in the second and fourth set and the first," Cole said. "Unfortunately, we weren’t able to finish the close games, but I think we played with a lot of pride out on the court and a lot of energy. We’ll see them again down the road and it’s just going to make our season better by growing from this."

Handley senior setter Mya Mintschenko led the Judges with 35 assists.

Despite the loss, Mintschenko said her team gave a great effort.

"We’re definitely upbeat," said Mintschenko, who also had six digs and four kills. "We definitely should’ve finished, but it was hard. They had great defense and put up blocks and had great defense too.

"We can definitely grow from [a match like this] — that’s for sure. We’re definitely building as a team and picking up certain things that we hadn’t picked up from the beginning of the season, so that’s a big difference in these tighter games.

James Wood sophomore libero Kaitlyn Poppo led the Colonels with 22 digs.

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