Handley volleyball sweeps James Wood

By JERRY HOLSWORTH | The Winchester Star Oct 6, 2017

WINCHESTER — Handley used two strategically important runs to sweep James Wood 3-0 (25-20, 25-23, 25-14) in Thursday night’s Northwestern District girls’ volleyball match at Maddex-Omps Gymnasium

“It was definitely sweet to take them 3-0,” said Handley coach Lindsay Cole, whose team avenged a five-set loss to the Colonels earlier in this season. “We came out prepared and with a lot of energy. We attacked them aggressively, and we were really clicking as a team.”

The win moves the Judges (12-3, 4-3 district) into a tie for third with Wood (10-7, 4-3) in the district race.

“We need to take all of this one game at a time,” Cole said. “We need to keep doing what we’re doing right now, and build on that. This was a great, great win for us though.”

The runs that gave Handley the win came in the first and third set with Caitlin Varela at the service line. The junior’s placement of her serves kept the Colonels off balance, setting up Handley’s powerful front line for a flurry of kills.

With the Judges leading 4-1 in the opening set, Varela served seven consecutive times, resulting in a 6-0 run by Handley that left the Colonels trailing 10-1.

“I just concentrated on placing the ball,” Varela said. “I wanted to get every serve over. I thought we kept them off- balance the entire set.”

Amazingly, Wood responded with a 5-0 run of its own which narrowed Handley’s lead to 10-8. Taylor Robinson was at the service line, hitting two aces during the Colonel rally.

Although Handley still held the lead, it was anything but safe. Wood tied the scored at 16 after a short return by the Judges, but the rest of the set was controlled by the Judges.

Leading 21-18, Maggie Wise, who had five kills and an ace during the set, hammered home two kills, and Neysha Washington added two more to give Handley a 24-18 lead. Chloe Putnam clinched the set with an ace.

“We came out really strong at the beginning,” Wise said. “Varela’s service run really helped give us an edge.”

The second set proved to be the closest of the match, as neither side could pull away. The Colonels led through the first 23 exchanges, but a kill by Wise tied the score 12-12.

From that point there were nine ties in a razor-close battle. With the score tied at 21 a kill by Wise and a pair of short returns by Wood gave the Judges a 24-21 lead. The Colonels rallied with two points, but a kill by Wise gave Handley the win in the second set.

The Judges began the third set with a kill by Wise and an ace by Tori Stanford and led 3-0, but Wood slowly fought back to tie the score 7-7 on an ace by Ryenne Terenzi. After a kill by Meredith Watts gave Handley a 14-12 lead, Varela stepped to the service line and sealed the win for the Judges with a 6-0 run.

“Caitlin did a great job of hitting spots with her serve,” Cole said. “I think that’s why she was so successful tonight. We were able to run our offense much more effectively because of that.”

This time, Varela helped Handley’s run with three aces, and this time Wood couldn’t produce a run of its own.

“Our setters were really setting us up well,” Wise said. “Our defense was also on tonight. We’re obviously really excited about this win, but we still need to keep executing like we did tonight for the rest of the season.”

Handley took the set and match on a kill by Watts.

Wise led the Judges with 15 kills, but she wasn’t the only Handley player to make a significant contribution. Watts had seven kills for the match and a block. Chloe Putnam scored on five kills and two blocks, and Washington had five kills and an ace for Handley.

Wood was led by Jessica Putnam, who had 13 kills and an ace. Gillian Kleiderlein had four kills for the Colonels, and Grace Frigaard scored on two kills and two blocks.

“We’re struggling right now,” Colonel coach P. W. Hillyard said. “It’s been a tough two weeks. We plan to come back [today] and practice and try to right the ship.”