James Wood volleyball edges Heritage to earn state tournament berth

WINCHESTER — As James Wood junior Grace Frigaard dove to the floor to send the ball over the net on a Heritage set point in the third set, her determination and spirit consumed her.

"I didn't want [this match] to be our last," said Frigaard of James Wood's third touch on a serve at 26-25, which would have given the Pride a 2-1 lead in sets had the ball fallen to the floor. "I wanted us to do every single possible thing we can do to make this not be our last match."

That same mentality helped the Colonels climb out of an even more dangerous situation two sets later and send them on their way to a glorious celebration.

James Wood rallied from a 13-11 deficit in the fifth set with four straight points on Monday at Shirley Gymansium to earn its first state tournament berth since 2016.

That 4-0 run that culminated with Kristyna Van Sickler's team-high 17th kill that deflected off a Pride player at the net before falling to the floor gave the Colonels a 25-22, 17-25, 29-27, 19-25, 15-13 3-2 Region 4C semifinal win.

James Wood (23-3) will travel to play seven-time defending state champion Loudoun County, a 3-0 winner over Millbrook in Monday's other semifinal, at 6 p.m. on Wednesday in the region championship.

"Euphoric," said Van Sickler, moments after breaking away from a pack of James Wood students, of her emotions after seeing her match-winning kill fall. "Like, 'Oh my god, we're going to states.' It's absolutely a dream."

Heritage (16-8) almost made it a nightmare.

The Colonels came out on fire in the fifth set after committing eight attack errors in the fourth set, jumping out a to a 4-0 lead on two blocks, an error, and an ace by senior setter Hanna Plasters (28 assists, 11 digs).

But the Pride roared back with four straight points, which included a kill each from Julia Silva Gleason (21 kills) and Nina Brkic (17 kills).

The Colonels led 10-8, but then they found themselves down 13-11 on a kill by Cassidy Neff.

Again, James Wood steeled itself.

"You let your body just take everything," Van Sickler said. "You sacrifice your body. That ball was not hitting the ground. You want to go for every single thing.

"We had played too hard and come too far to just let the match go."

Van Sickler certainly did her part. The next four points saw her record three kills. She had a thunderous spike toward a Pride player's waist at 13-13, but it had too much heat for her to do anything with it. One point later, the match was the Colonels.

The Colonels struggled with errors at times, but James Wood coach Jaime Terenzi said her team was able to pick its play up when it needed to by picking its mental approach up.

"Did we have to make it so hard?" said a smiling Terenzi as she grabbed her head. "We were on that emotional rollercoaster tonight.

"The potential of it being our last match was really weighing on some of them. They needed little reminders at times [that Heritage] was going to fight. They're not going to give it to you."

The Colonels didn't give it to Heritage either. James Wood took four of the last five points of the first set when it was 21-21, stared down three set points in the third and pulled it out in the fifth.

"They really got down on themselves in the second set," Terenzi said. "They were timid, and there was lack of communication. I told them that's not going to get it done. We need to go back to playing the way we can play.

"I told them they know how to play with each other. I told them to go back to doing their jobs and doing things together, and they did that."

Van Sickler added eight digs for Wood. Lainie Putt had 13 kills and Frigaard had 12. Katey Matthews had 16 assists, 10 digs and three aces. Olivia Biggs had seven kills and Katie Costin had four blocks.

"This team is just so special," Frigaard said. "If we put our minds to it, we can do anything."

— Contact Robert Niedzwiecki at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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