Millbrook sweeps James Wood to clinch region berth

WINCHESTER — The James Wood volleyball team came into Tuesday’s Class 4 Northwestern District semifinal match hoping to put its four-year losing streak against Millbrook to bed.

The Pioneers wouldn’t rest until their mission to maintain their stranglehold on their rivalry with James Wood was complete, though.

Second-seeded Millbrook never trailed in the first or second set, then rallied from a 15-5 deficit in the third to earn a 3-0 (25-16, 25-16, 26-24) win over No. 3 James Wood at the Pioneers’ Shirley Gymnasium.

Millbrook’s third win in three meetings with the Colonels this year — and their 11th straight win dating back to the start of the 2015 season — earned the Pioneers a berth in next week’s Region 4C tournament and advanced them to Thursday’s championship match at No. 1 Fauquier at 6:30 p.m. The Falcons defeated No. 4 Sherando 25-14, 25-17, 25-19 in Tuesday’s other semifinal.

“I think we just came out with a lot of energy,” said Millbrook senior Jordan Reid, who led the Pioneers with 21 assists. “We saw the energy that [James Wood] had [with their comments after beating Handley on Monday], that they were ready for us. We were ready for them, too.”

Millbrook coach Carla Milton was pleased in all areas by her team, which received strong performances from everywhere in improving to 19-3.

Tuesday’s effort was led by senior outside hitter Abigail Koeller (14 kills, 10 digs), junior outside hitter Tori Johnson (11 kills, 13 digs), sophomore libero Jessica Cleveland (five aces, 11 digs), sophomore opposite/setter Skylar Johnson (14 assists) and junior middle hitter Jordan Weir (seven kills).

“We played very well as a team tonight, all the way around,” Milton said. “Even when we were down in the third and we came back, they took it one point at a time. They never gave up.”

The Colonels (16-8) looked like they might get back into the match halfway through.

James Wood started to pick up its play in the second set, bouncing back from a 20-4 deficit to get as close as eight points.

The Colonels then took a 10-3 lead in the third behind two aces each from Kate Poppo and Yeakley Pullen. Milton took a timeout after Pullen’s ace made it 10-3.

“Defense first,” said Milton with a laugh when asked what she said during that break. “Get a pass. Once we got that going, we were able to get some good passes up to our setters and start putting the ball down again.

“I thought we were able to get into a flow and we were able to push through to the end.”

James Wood would push its lead out to 15-5, but a 5-0 run cut the Colonels lead to 15-10.

The Colonel fans roared when Grace Frigaard (team-high 11 kills) had a cross-court kill following several strong defensive plays by James Wood to keep the rally alive and give it a 19-14 lead.

But Millbrook followed with a 5-0 run. On the point that tied the set at 19, Reid made a perfect bump pass with her back to the net all the way across the court to Koeller on the left. Koeller finished with one of her six third-set kills.

The two teams then went back-and-forth before Skylar Johnson fed Weir for a kill down the middle to make it 25-24. Reid then ended the match with a serve down the middle that Pullen went low for but was unable to dig up, one of 12 aces for Millbrook on Tuesday.

“This was a huge game for us,” Koeller said. “We were all were very into it. We were fired up.”

Koeller felt the combination of Millbrook’s serve receive and serving made a big difference against James Wood.

“We’ve been practicing a lot on serving so we could just keep it in play and give ourselves a run,” Koeller said.

James Wood coach P.W. Hillyard said he felt his team did not play the way it was capable. He thought his team dug the ball well and scrambled well, but that wasn’t enough on Tuesday.

“I feel like we didn’t play very well,” he said. “We couldn’t pass very well. Early on we didn’t make smart plays when we had opportunities to. No one really stepped up when we needed it.

“[After the strong start to the third set], we went back to the old normal of not siding out the ball. If you don’t side them out and you give them opportunities to swing ... they were putting the ball down. We couldn’t get a good set to try and put the ball down.”

While it was a disappointing end to the season, James Wood senior Jessica Putnam was pleased with the team’s progress.

“I think it was a successful season for us,” she said. “We definitely grew during the season. We were definitely better than we were at the start of the season, and that’s all you can ask for.”

Pullen and Poppo had four aces each for James Wood. Gillian Kleiderlein had six kills, a block and an ace.

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