Wood tops Millbrook in battle of volleyball unbeatens

WINCHESTER — After James Wood junior middle hitter Lexi Taylor walked around with moisture in her eyes amidst a sea of people following Tuesday's volleyball match at Millbrook's Casey Gymnasium, she stopped to talk about her emotions.

"I think they're happy tears," Taylor said. "I don't know yet."

One never knows how you're going to react when you pick up a win against your biggest rival.

James Wood emerged with a 3-1 Class 4 Northwestern District victory (25-19, 25-18, 21-25, 25-21) over Millbrook in a fitting hard-fought, back-and-forth match in which the gym was routinely loud and nearly full, with student sections packed on both sides.

Both teams came in with perfect records, but the Colonels (11-0, 6-0) executed at a higher level than Millbrook (10-1, 5-1) when it needed to do at the end of the first, second and fourth sets.

The Colonels outscored Millbrook 12-6 to break a 13-13 tie in the first set and regrouped to score the last two points of the second set after the Pioneers went on a 5-0 run to close to 23-18. And after the Colonels lost the third set — just the second set James Wood has dropped all year — they broke a 17-17 tie by outscoring Millbrook 8-4 to close the match.

The final point came on a kill from junior hitter Ashlynn Spence down the line on the right side that deflected off Millbrook and went to the floor, which snapped a seven-match losing streak to the Pioneers that started in the spring 2021 season. None of James Wood's 11 players were on the 2019 varsity squad that last beat Millbrook.

The Colonels have only three seniors on their team, but they have eight returning varsity players and a trio of newcomers who each delivered dynamite performances on Tuesday. One of them is Spence, who had 10 kills and a block. The freshman duo of Kennedy Spaid (team-high 14 kills, two aces) and Brenna Corbin (12 kills and a team-high 20 digs and five aces) also continued their stellar debut seasons.

Taylor (six kills, two blocks, two aces) said the entire team's effort showed up on Tuesday.

"We practice a lot, and we put in the work," Taylor said. "I think we all knew that we deserved [to win] this. We have to go in with the mindset of playing with the same grit, no matter who we play."

James Wood coach Adrienne Patrick was definitely impressed with the resolve of her team. The Colonels started the year with a major confidence boost by defeating 10-time defending Class 4 state champion Loudoun County, but going up against a talented foe that they know so well brings up a different type of challenge.

"All of the girls [at James Wood and Millbrook] know each other," Patrick said. "They play with each other outside of high school, so they're friends, and they know each other's capabilities. It's always going to be a tense situation playing Millbrook. But in the end, we were able to stay together and gel together."

A long rally on the first point of the match that ended with a kill by Millbrook middle hitter Ashley Roberts (12 kills, three blocks) set the tone for the competitive night.

But ultimately, it was James Wood that grabbed the early momentum. The Colonels grinded out the first set, using a 4-0 run to take a 13-10 lead, a 3-0 run for a 19-15 lead, and a 3-0 run to get to 23-17.

"[The first set] was a good place to start," Taylor said. "We were all nervous coming into [Tuesday], whether people want to admit or not, but we pulled together pretty well. We were all super excited that we started off that way."

The first set provided the first of a few "she's a freshman!" chants from the Colonel students, with Corbin the first to get them.

The 5-foot-4 Corbin had six of her kills in the first set, including one to make it 22-17 and another on set point, and she closed out the second set with back-to-back kills. The 5-foot-10 Spaid — who put down a couple of spikes from extremely difficult angles at the net — would receive her first "freshman" chants in the second set, when she had six of her kills.

Patrick said the duo — which won a 14-and-under beach volleyball national championship together in Atlantic City, N.J. this summer — has been exceptional all season. Spaid's 126 kills are twice as many as anyone else on the Colonels, and Corbin ranks second in kills (63), digs (93) and aces (34).

"I'm very impressed with Kennedy's ability to constantly adjust and be available," Patrick said. "She can hit with her right hand, or her left hand if she needs to. Brenna's leadership, her vocal leadership on the court, as a freshman to be able to provide that is truly remarkable."

Spaid said the Colonels' veterans have made the transition to high school volleyball a smooth one for her and Corbin.

"It was definitely big for them to welcome us and encourage us to play our best," Spaid said.

Spaid said she was excited for the matchup, and she felt like Tuesday night was one of her better hitting nights of the season, comparing it favorably to her 10-kill performance against Loudoun County. Spaid had an impressive leaping back-row kill in the fourth set that capped a 5-0 run for the Colonels to make it 22-17.

Until that run, James Wood was very much in danger of playing a fifth set. Millbrook battled back admirably after losing the first two sets, wiping out deficits of 7-1 and 11-6 to take the third set, as well as a 7-3 deficit to start the fourth set.

"We strung together a lot of points when we needed to [in the third and fourth sets] and actually started moving a lot more," Pioneers coach Carla Milton said. "I didn't think we moved very well in 1 and 2, especially in coverage.

"Serve receive was good, but when we were hitting, they were getting their hands on everything. They were right there when we were hitting. [The ball] was coming back, and we weren't getting the pass that we needed to run our offense again."

With the score tied 17-17 in the fourth, Millbrook had a chance to fire up its fans even more with a strong push. But the Pioneers chances were hurt by its service game.

After committing only three service errors in the first three sets, Millbrook had three over the last 12 points of the fourth set. The first made it 18-17 and started James Wood's 5-0 run, the second ended a 3-0 Pioneer run and put James Wood up 23-20, and the third made it 24-21 and set up match point.

"At that point in time, those are mistakes we can't make," Milton said.

Spence's final kill than set off a Wood celebration.

The Colonels received contributions from all over. Other leaders were Paige Ahakuelo (25 assists), Hannah McCullough (15 assists), Carsyn Vincent (17 digs, eight assists) and Melia Burch (seven kills, one block).

"We're very excited," Spaid said. "It's going to be a big celebration on the bus going back to James Wood."

Millbrook was also led by Madison Koeller (40 assists, six kills), Berkeley Konrady (13 kills, three aces), Grace Behneke (six kills, 11 digs) and Gigi Norris (10 digs).

James Wood is back in action on Thursday at Kettle Run, while Millbrook will travel to Fauquier on Friday for a key match. The Pioneers beat the Falcons 3-2 in their first matchup, and Fauquier's only district losses are to Millbrook and James Wood.

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