James Wood starts rivalry matchups with thrilling win

By ROBERT NIEDZWIECKI The Winchester Star

Sep 7, 2018

WINCHESTER — As a silver-haired man made his way down the bleachers on the James Wood side of Shirley Gymnasium following Thursday’s volleyball match with Sherando, he couldn’t help but remark at what he had just seen.

“I came in here with one gray hair tonight,” he said. “That was unbelievable.”

If the remaining 11 regular-season matches among Winchester-Frederick County schools this season are anything like the first, area volleyball fans will be more than satisfied.

James Wood emerged with a 3-2 (23-25, 25-14, 25-18, 19-25, 18-16) win over Sherando in a match that lasted more than two hours. It was the Class 4 Northwestern District opener for both schools.

The Colonels improved to 2-1 with the win, which means all four Winchester-Frederick County schools head into today with winning records. All but Millbrook (7-0) has a busy day in front of it. The Colonels will play in a tournament at Loudoun Valley High School, while Handley (4-0) and Sherando (4-2) will play in a 12-team tournament at Rock Ridge High School.

Prior to Thursday, James Wood hadn’t won a match since its season opener against Warren County on Aug. 23. The Colonels lost to Heritage 3-0 on Aug. 27 and had their match on Tuesday at North Hagerstown (Md.) postponed because the Hubs don’t have air conditioning and the heat index was too high.

James Wood had to dig deep to get Thursday’s win. In the fifth set, the Colonels rallied from 9-5 deficit to take a 12-10 lead, then watched Sherando give itself two match points with a 4-0 run to take a 14-12 lead. James Wood finally emerged by scoring six of the last eight points, with Grace Frigaard (two), Taylor Robinson and Ryenne Terenzi each contributing kills. Terenzi finished it off with an ace down the middle.

“We definitely showed heart,” said James Wood senior outside hitter Jessica Putnam, who had a match-high 17 kills and added four aces and three blocks, on Thursday night after the match. “We worked very hard as a team. We all came together and we all worked so well together. We pulled it out when we needed to.”

The Colonels were definitely off their games in the first set, with four service errors and two rotation violations.

“We knew we were going to be in a dogfight with Sherando because [Warriors] coach [James] Minney always has a good, scrappy team,” James Wood coach P.W. Hillyard said. “They’ve got some attackers this year.

“Stats that I keep are ‘positives’ and ‘negatives.’ They had 19 points in the first set which we didn’t make them earn. Sherando [makes you earn points]. We were lucky to come out with a win.”

Hillyard felt James Wood’s serving improved after the first set, and he felt the Colonels passed the ball well throughout the match.

“When we were in a system, we were able to make some good sets and some good swings, and we were putting the ball down,” Hillyard said. “We were also making some scrappy plays on defense, not letting the ball touch the floor.”

With just three matches under their belt, James Wood is glad to get some extensive action today. The Colonels will play Class 6 Osbourn Park, Class 5 Tuscarora and private schools Flint Hill and Paul VI in today’s tournament at Loudoun Valley. Flint Hill went 35-0 last year and is ranked No. 1 in The Washington Post Top 10 poll, while Tuscarora is sixth after last year’s state championship season.

“We’re still trying to find our identity,” Hillyard said. “I don’t think this team realizes how good it can be. We’re really stressing being consistent. In practice, we don’t show consistency. [Thursday] we showed we’re not consistent, and the mark of a good team is being consistent.

“That’s something we want to work on and try and better at. We have a lot of room for improvement, and the girls know that. We feel like we can get a lot better.”

James Wood was also led by Kaitlyn Poppo (11 kills), Gillian Kleiderlein (10 kills), Grace Frigaard (eight kills), Yeakley Pullen (17 digs, three aces) and Hanna Plasters (29 assists) against Sherando.

Sherando

Minney felt the Warriors missed out on an opportunity on Thursday night.

“We didn’t finish,” Minney said on Thursday. “We didn’t finish against Warren County [in a 3-2 loss on Tuesday]. I really believe James Wood kept us in the match off and on the whole night. James Wood is a good team. We were able to capitalize on their mistakes, things they could have done they didn’t do.”

Thursday’s match marked progress as far as the Warriors’ rivalries with local teams.

Sherando only took two sets total in posting a 0-7 record against James Wood, Millbrook, and Handley last year. The Warriors did not take a set in three matches with the Colonels last year, including a season-ending loss in the first round of the district tournament.

“As long we can stay with these teams, we have a chance,” Minney said. “Last year, we’d get blown out. I’m happy with what we’re doing. We just keep progressing.”

Minney said the Warriors need to get better with serve receive, but overall he’s pleased with how his team is playing.

“We’re doing well,” said Minney, who was pleased with how the Warriors blocked during the later stages of the match. “We’ve got a mixture of younger girls and older girls. We’re just trying to get them to mesh on the floor.”

Sherando senior hitter Mackenzie English (seven kills, three blocks, two aces against Wood) said the Warriors need to get better at finishing in close situations. But she feels the team is showing a lot of potential, and being competitive against a team like James Wood should benefit it.

“It’s definitely helping our morale, to see that we can actually play with these kinds of teams, especially last year getting crushed by James Wood in our district,” she said.

Sherando was also led on Thursday by Minney’s freshman daughter Regan (nine kills), Heather Walton (six kills), and Alyssa Meyer (three aces).

Millbrook

Until dropping the first set Thursday night against Heritage, Millbrook had not dropped a single set all year. The Pioneers responded impressively though by winning the next three sets against a Pride team that swept James Wood.

The Pioneers are coming off a season in which they advanced to the Class 4 state semifinals. Millbrook defeated Loudoun County in the Region 4C championship, but the Vikings beat the Pioneers in the state semis en route to their sixth consecutive state championship.

Millbrook senior setter Jordan Reid said on Tuesday that getting that close has played a role in the team’s strong start.

“That was the push to make us get more motivated this year,” Reid said. “Making it to states last year was a really big accomplishment, especially beating Loudoun for the regional championship. I think that struck our spirit to do it again.”

Though the Pioneers are playing well, they know they’re hardly a finished product. Reid cited court coverage and more consistent serving as things in particular that Millbrook needs to work on.

“We’re doing well for this point in the season,” Millbrook coach Carla Milton said. “There are times when I’ve seen a glimmer of how good we can actually be. We’ve been working on coverage and serving every day from the start, and we’ll continue as the season goes along. As long as we keep improving every day on those things, the sky’s the limit for them.”

Milton said Millbrook’s new players have meshed well with the returners. Junior middle hitter Mikayla Ockerman was brought up for the postseason last year and got some valuable experience being around the team. Milton said junior Ashleigh Nail has been valuable as a right-side hitter, and freshman defensive specialist Madelyn White has seen a lot of action and played well.

“I’ve been lucky that I’ve gotten everybody in so far every night, and gotten a significant amount of playing time,” said Milton on Tuesday, prior to Millbrook’s matches on Wednesday against Rock Ridge and Thursday against Briar Woods. “That’s really been valuable so we can gel and see how each other plays.”

Handley

Of Handley’s four wins, its most impressive was probably its closest.

In the Judges’ 3-2 win over Warren County on Aug. 30, senior setter Caitlin Varela was injured during the pre-match warmup. Handley coach Lindsay Cole said the Judges adjusted their formation from a 6-2 to a 5-1 in that match, and she was pleased with her team’s adaptability and grit.

Cole said senior Kate Rudolph at setter, junior defensive specialist Alaina Madigan and sophomore hitter Emilie Pifer are among those who have handled increased responsibility well since Varela suffered her injury.

“We’re taking the court, we’re being aggressive, and we have a lot of senior leadership, which helps,” Cole said. “We have a lot of smart players, which is helping us get off to a good start. We’re just trying to find the team chemistry and the balance overall at net.”

Senior Neysha Washington had stood out at the net, recording between 12 and 16 kills in Handley’s last three matches.

“She’s kind of our go-to player,” Cole said. “She’s been overshadowed by Maggie Wise the last couple of seasons, but she’s having a breakout season. She’s very deceiving with her 5-4 height because she plays like a 6-1 player at the net.”

Clarke County

After going 8-15 last year, the Eagles are off to a 3-3 start this year. Four of the six matches have come against schools in larger classifications. Clarke County is 2-0 against schools its own size.

“We are coming into our groove now as a team,” head coach Barbara McCauley said. “Our team stats are starting to show that all of our players are contributing to an increase in successful in-system plays each week. Everyone is pushing themselves and making huge strides.”

Hannah Trenary has paced the team with 13 kills in two matches this week, but McCauley said the Eagles’ entire roster has worked hard to improve.

“Everyone has committed themselves since preseason to keep challenging themselves on the court for the sake of bettering our team’s game,” she said.

On Thursday in a 3-0 loss to Warren, Trenary had six kills, Meredith Long has six six digs, and Katherine McCauley had 10 assists.

Week Ahead

Following today’s tournament play, action picks up again on Monday with Fauquier at Sherando at 7 p.m. On Tuesday, Handley will host James Wood at 7:15 p.m., Millbrook is at Liberty (7:15 p.m.) and Clarke County is at Skyline (7 p.m.). On Thursday, Millbrook hosts Sherando at 7:15 p.m, the Colonels will be at Kettle Run at 7 p.m., and Clarke County is at Warren County at 7 p.m.

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