James Wood volleyball sweeps Heritage in home opener

WINCHESTER — After playing the toughest season opener imaginable on Tuesday, the James Wood volleyball team bounced back pretty nicely in its home opener on Thursday at Casey Gymnasium.

The Colonels beat Heritage 3-0 (25-18, 25-17, 25-21) and didn’t trail at all in the non-district match until the Pride took a 5-4 lead in the third set.

A young Colonels squad with just three seniors and six newcomers on its 12-player roster took control of a the back-and-forth third set with a 6-0 run to go up 22-17. Junior outside hitter Melia Burch finished things off with a kill that sent Heritage scrambling toward the back wall on its first two attempts to dig the ball up before it ultimately fell to the floor.

Thursday’s match was played under much different circumstances than James Wood’s first match. On Tuesday, the Colonels (1-1) traveled to nine-time defending state champion Loudoun County and lost 25-13, 25-15 and 25-14 in a three-game sweep.

“From playing against Loudoun County, we really learned how to play as a team,” said James Wood senior setter Katey Matthews. “We were really excited to play this game.”

Matthews (team-high six aces, 16 assists and 12 digs) has been one of the area’s best servers throughout her three-year varsity career, and she jump-started the Colonels in both the first and second sets. Matthews had two aces in a match-opening 7-0 run, then after assisting Burch (four kills, three aces) on the first point of the second set she had two more aces during a four-point service run that made it 5-0. The Colonels led 10-2 in the first set and 11-1 in the second set.

“Katey has a very aggressive serve, so we always like to have her start serving because of that,” James Wood second-year coach Adrienne Patrick said. “That always kind of gets us up first. I think the team rallies behind that. I think she’s really consistent, and that really helps us as well.”

When Matthews wasn’t serving, she was one of the people spreading the wealth with her sets. Nine different players had kills for James Wood (Matthews had a couple well-placed flicks from the floor that landed deep on the court on the Heritage side).

Patrick played everyone Thursday and wanted to get a better sense of what will work best for the Colonels in the future. Outside hitting was one of the areas she hoped would improve after the Loudoun County match.

“Every single person played in the first set,” Patrick said. “We were trying to see who was going to rise, who’s going to be most aggressive in the front row.”

Patrick said Colonels sophomore outside hitter Izzy Turner — the younger sister of former James Wood football standout Jackson — only played two or three rotations on the front row on Tuesday against the Captains.

On Thursday, Turner led the Colonels with nine kills. She closed out the second set with a back-row kill, then she had five kills in the third set when James Wood had its toughest time with the Pride (0-2). In the third set, the two teams were never separated by more than two points until the Colonels went on their 6-0 run. Sophomore opposite Paige Ahakuelo (seven kills, five assists, five digs) had three of her four aces in that run.

“This was [Turner’s] first time really playing outside and playing all the way around, so I think she really stepped up,” Patrick said. “That was a really solid performance for her.”

James Wood only has two players taller than 5 feet, 6 inches. One of them is junior middle Ella Kelchner (at 5-9, the team’s tallest player), and Patrick is pleased to see how she’s progressing coming off knee surgery. Kelchner (four kills) had two blocks in the third set.

“The potential for her in the middle is great,” Patrick said. “I continue to see growth with her.”

Turner, who also had five digs, was pleased with the entire squad.

“I think we played really well as a team together,” Turner said. “We definitely performed way better than we did against Loudoun County. I was really proud of everybody.

“I feel like everyone’s really well-rounded. They can play anywhere they need to. Everyone’s coachable, so they’re up to playing anywhere. I think it’s just really great to have that on the team.”

James Wood still has things to work on — Patrick would have liked to have seen the Colonels do better with serve receive — but overall, she will take Thursday’s performance.

“We just tried to stay together as a team this week,” Patrick said. “We’re young, and we’re building. We’re trying to stay together and stay positive.”

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