James Wood volleyball routs 10-time defending state champ Loudoun County

WINCHESTER — There was no question who was the better volleyball team at Shirley Gymnasium on Tuesday night, and it wasn't the 10-time defending state champs.

James Wood made a season-opening statement that featured exclamation point after exclamation point in a 3-0 rout of Class 4 state power Loudoun County. After overcoming some early jitters, the Colonels were unstoppable in a 25-21, 25-5, 25-18 victory.

As demonstrated by the members of the James Wood student section who showed up in orange and yellow construction vests and hard hats, the Colonels came to work. And after the match was over, the players celebrated a demolition well done by doling out a barrage of hugs to each other and their supporters as the sound of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'" filled the gym.

"I am so excited to be a part of this team," said Colonels senior libero Carsyn Vincent (nine digs), who recorded her 500th career dig in the first set, after taking a break from passing out an aluminum tray of Rice Krispies Treats to her teammates. "We connect so well on the court together.

"All day long and all night we've been talking about how excited we are for this game. We were posting a bunch of stuff about coming to the game because the theme was construction. All in all, this is really great. We're super excited to win this."

With good reason. While these Captains are a different team from last year after losing five of their six All-Dulles District players, including Class 4 State Player of the Year Sarah Jordan, and have a new head coach in Sarah Mozeyko, who was an assistant last year, a program doesn't win 10 titles without being able to make adjustments.

On Tuesday night, though, the Captains had no answers. A James Wood team that returns eight players from last year's Region 4C semifinalists and added three talented newcomers was just too good.

"[Beating Loudoun County] really excites us and looks good for our program," said James Wood junior setter Hannah McCullough (eight assists, four aces). "We're just ready to go much further with our year this year."

James Wood coach Adrienne Patrick said the team has grown in numerous ways from last year. The eight returners have grown as players, and freshmen Brenna Corbin (four kills, three aces) and 5-foot-10 Kennedy Spaid (team-high 10 kills) have fit in well with their passing and added some needed firepower at the net.

"They both have very strong arms," Patrick said. "From last season, we just needed more power at the net. We were really scrappy last season. We had an amazing setter and an amazing leader in Katey Matthews last year, and she also helped us out a lot with serving. She had 92 aces. But we needed more arms to put the balls down.

"With the returners and the newcomers, they've all meshed together. As a team, we're constantly growing to gel more and work better together. I think tonight showed we're moving in the right direction to be able to do that."

The first set was a struggle at times for the Colonels, when they committed eight attack errors and four service errors. Patrick thought there might have been nerves given that James Wood was playing its season opener at home against a storied program.

But James Wood also showed it was much more capable of applying pressure with its attack with 13 kills to Loudoun County's seven. With the score 18-18, James Wood ran off five straight points to take a 23-18 lead, and five points later Spaid finished off the set with a thunderous cross-court kill that the Captains couldn't handle to win the set. Spaid had four of kills in the opening set, and Melia Burch had four of her eight kills.

For James Wood to take that set without hitting or serving its best showed a lot about the Colonels. Even if there shots weren't falling, they were working hard to make sure Loudoun County's didn't.

"We all want the ball," McCullough said. "We are all hustle, all talk. And we're very close-knit and we help each other with everything. We're all really good friends inside and outside of volleyball, which I believe really helps our team."

Once the Colonels won that first set, they emphatically showed in the second set they were the better team. James Wood did not commit a single error in winning it.

"The way that we pulled through in the first set, and then to dominate the way we did in the second set, it was playing together and playing for each other," Patrick said. "Tonight was evident that we're playing for each other on the court. If something would have gone south, I still feel like we would have been playing for each other and picking each other up."

James Wood had at least eight players score points through kills or serves in each set. Lexi Taylor had four aces and sophomore hitter Adeline Pitcock had three kills to lead the way in the second set. In the third, Spaid added four more kills and Corbin had two kills and three aces. Corbin's last ace came on match point, two points after the Colonels rebounded from their only rough patch of the last two sets, a 5-0 Captains run that cut their lead to 23-18.

All 11 James Wood players showed they were capable of making an impact on Tuesday, and Patrick noted that Izzy Turner isn't at 100 percent right now because she's recovering from an injury.

"Everybody got in and everybody made important plays," said Patrick, who also received five kills from Ella Kelchner and 12 assists from Paige Ahakuelo. "That's something I value with the 11 players that we have on this team. Everybody makes an impact when they go in."

The Colonels will have six days to savor the win before they host Class 5 Independence on Monday.

"I think that we've set the bar high for ourselves to continue to stay up there every night," Patrick said. 'It's a great win. I'm very proud of them."

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

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