Pioneers hold off James Wood

By David Selig
The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER — Devon Courneya has proven over the years that she can make plays from any spot on the floor at any time in a match.

But the one she made with the Millbrook High School volleyball team leading 10-9 in the fifth set at James Wood Thursday night will go right down with the best them.

Lunging forward, the do-it-all senior dug out a serve that clipped the tape on the net.

Then, when Millbrook setter Jordan Orndoff popped the ball straight into the air, Courneya leapt back to her feet and drilled home a kill from the back row.

Seven points later, Courneya completed Millbrook’s thrilling 3-2 (25-19, 25-22, 16-25, 22-25, 15-12) win with another attack from the back.

Courneya finished with a match-high 22 kills and 27 digs, and the play in which she had one of each epitomized why she’s so dangerous.

“It wasn’t really smart on my part, that was just where I was falling into it,” Orndoff said of setting Courneya on that point. “I popped it up, and it happened to be right in front of her. She did a phenomenal job to get back up and have the energy to jump up again and get that.”

Perhaps Orndoff should have looked toward the front row that time, but when Millbrook (11-2, 2-1 Northwestern District) received serve needing one more point to clinch the match, there was no doubt the ball was going straight back to Courneya. “I was pretty confident that was going to happen,” Pioneers coach Kim Riordan said. “We go with what works, and we go with who’s on in an evening. And Devon was on.”

Usually an outside hitter, Riordan moved Courneya all over the floor Thursday, often sending her to the middle to help set up a block.

Courneya ripped eight kills to go along with a block in the second set, which allowed Millbrook to take a 2-0 lead in the match.

“She’s a very versatile player,” Riordan said. “I could put her anywhere on the court and I know that she would be unstoppable. So, I did move her around a little bit to get blocks, and I think that was one of the keys in our win tonight, our blocking.”

As is typically the case between the Frederick County rivals, the match was far from over after two sets.

James Wood (7-5, 1-1) stormed back to win the next two and put all the pressure back on Millbrook.

The Colonels had their greatest success feeding middle hitter Hannah Tierney, who had a team-best 17 kills.

“In warm-ups I noticed that [Hannah] just appeared to be on fire and so pumped up for tonight,” Wood coach Jill Lester said. “I mentioned something to [setter] Carly [Mullin] at the start of the match like, ‘Hey, Hannah looked good in warm-ups, let’s try to get her the ball tonight.’ We’re not used to feeding her the ball as much as we did tonight.”

After cruising through the third, James Wood pulled out to a 19-9 lead in the fourth set, making it seem almost a certainty the match was headed five.

But Millbrook worked back to within one late, before Tierney put down the final two points of the set.

The Colonels then took a 3-0 lead in the fifth.

Courneya tied the deciding set at 4-all after back-to-back kills, the second of which she made after combining with Anna Comer to block Emily Shannon at the net. (Shannon had nine kills and three aces; Comer finished with a team-high eight blocks.)

Many times, teams can take a deep breath when their opponent’s go-to hitter rotates to the back row, but the Colonels knew they couldn’t do that with Courneya.

Lester said her team worked specifically in Wednesday’s practice on how to dig attacks from the back row with Courneya in mind.

The Colonels also left other hitters uncovered at times in an attempt to slow Millbrook’s star.

“I told them to leave the other attackers alone and just focus on Devon, because she’s primarily who they’re going to,” Lester said. “Eight times out of 10 — nine times out of 10 — that’s who they’re giving the ball to.”

After the match, Lester called Courneya “a fun kid to watch,” although it was undoubtedly a much more enjoyable experience for the Pioneers and their fans.

Orndoff said Millbrook was determined to play better after being swept by Sherando last week, and she added that the Pioneers’ win over West Virginia power Musselman on Tuesday night helped boost their confidence.

Yet that non-district match meant little compared with the first showdown against James Wood.

And nobody knew that better than Courneya.

“It was very important to us,” Courneya said. “We’ve been thinking about it all week, everybody knows that we’re kind of rivals, so it was a big match for everybody.”

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