Colonels rally to pick up victory in opener

WINCHESTER -- It wasn't until about midway through the second match that the James Wood Colonels began to shed the cobwebs and pull all of the pieces together. Hosting their first game of the season against Spotswood, the Colonels rallied from a five-point deficit to win the second game and tie the match.

The win swung the momentum on the side of the Colonels as they dominated the third game and held on in the fourth to win their season opener 3-1 (22-25, 26-24, 25-15, 25-19).

"I think the key was the adjustments we made tonight," Colonels coach Jill Lester said. "Their setter was awesome and almost single-handedly won the first match. This was the first time we've seen Spotswood so we weren't sure what to expect. After we started seeing their strengths and weaknesses, we made adjustments and I think that was the difference."

Trailing 11-6 in the second game, the Colonels began to mount their comeback. Emily Shannon slammed a kill on a volley from Blazers Jordan Mathias serve. Shannon then helped lead her team to four straight points from the service line including two aces to tie the game.

As the two teams traded points, it was clear something had to give. Trailing 23-22, Lester called a timeout to settle her young squad and focus themselves. Megan Crabtree then scored on a kill to tie the game and senior Carly Mullin scored two of the team's final three points on a kill and an ace to secure the game.

"I think a big difference after the first match was we had a lot more communication," Shannon said. "The team kept working and we could see we were starting to come together. That got us really excited."

After cruising to victory in the third game, the Colonels set their eyes on the prize hoping to end the night quickly. Spotswood, however, did not have any intentions of going home early. The Trailblazers took the lead at 14-13, but unfortunately for them, the James Wood squad had the answer.

A kill and an ace by Shannon quickly turned the tide and the Colonels out-scored Spotswood 12-5 the rest of the way to secure the victory. Crabtree again factored into the mix, recording three of her four kills in the game during the streak.

"We really worked hard and stuck together tonight," Crabtree said. "We really wanted to push hard to win and win our first game. It is big and feels so good to be able to get a win tonight. Just because we are a young team doesn't mean we can't win and pull through tough spots like we were able to do tonight."

"It was really who wanted it more," Shannon added. "We just told ourselves let's hold this down and do our best. It feels really good to get the win. We have some young new faces and it's a good thing for us."

With five sophomores, four juniors, and only two seniors, the Colonels are using the victory as momentum and want to show other teams that they will be a team to be reckoned with this season. James Wood has two weeks before their next appearance and plans to use the time to continue that development.

"I was very excited with the way the girls played tonight," Lester said. "From early on in the game, they were ready to play. I saw some things we need to work on and we will use the next two weeks to keep getting better and focus on the details of the game. They really want to be out on the floor and play so sometimes it's hard for the girls to see the big picture, but I think this time to practice will be a benefit to us."