Strong finish helps Colonels sweep Judges in volleyball

WINCHESTER — The James Wood High School volleyball team might not have wanted to find itself down 12-4 in the third set on Thursday night, but the two-time defending Class 4 champions will certainly file the response to the situation in their memory bank.

The Colonels completed a season sweep of Handley with a 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-22) Class 4 Northwestern District win at the Judges' Maddex-Omps Gymnasium.

Junior outside hitter Kennedy Spaid had a match-high 16 kills as well as 15 digs and three aces, junior outside hitter Brenna Corbin recorded 13 kills, 10 digs and three aces, and junior middle hitter Tenley Mattison had five kills, four blocks and four aces for the Colonels (13-3, 7-0 district).

Both teams wore pink uniforms for Judges for a Cure Night. Handley raised funds for the University of Virginia Cancer Center.

James Wood only lost one match in 2022 and two in 2023 en route to winning state titles. This year's Colonels — who fell 3-1 on Monday against West Virginia power Hedgesville before sweeping Liberty on Tuesday — have a record that just about any team would love to have. But junior middle hitter Tenley Mattison said the team hasn't always responded well this year when it faces a deficit.

"I think that when we get down in points, we shut down, and we don't play as well," Mattison said. "We don't talk, we don't play as a team, and we don't have fun.

"I think today, that was one of the things we recognized. [When we're down], we just need to keep playing and push [negativity] off to the side. It won't make anything better. So I think we [responded] really well today."

The Colonels took a timeout when faced with that 12-4 deficit in the third game. At that point, James Wood had committed five attack errors — as many as it had in the first two sets combined.

That was as big as James Wood's deficit would get, even though Handley came close to winning an action-filled point immediately out of the timeout. Twice, the Judges blocked James Wood spikes back over the net, and the Colonels scrambled to keep the point alive each time. The point ended with Corbin rising up after taking a set from freshman Bella Middleton and knocking it deep into an empty area of the court for a kill.

That started a 12-2 run for the Colonels that tied the score 14-14 and officially made it anyone's set to win.

"When we get those big points like that, we all hype each other up, and it really boosts our confidence," Mattison said.

That stretch also saw a blast by Handley's Breeze Johnson (12 kills) in which Mattison extended her arms and bumped the ball off the ceiling due to the high velocity. Sophomore setter Kylee Plumb kept the point alive by passing it to Spaid, who knocked the ball over. James Wood then controlled Handley's return over the net, with Plumb setting up sophomore Kyla Wilhelm (six kills, three blocks) for one of her four kills in the third set to cut Handley's lead to 14-12.

The Judges dug in and erased leads of 17-16 and 19-18 for the Colonels, and a kill by Sadie Bailey (one of her eight) and a James Wood attack error gave them a 22-20 lead.

James Wood scored the last five points though to complete the sweep. A kill by Mattison made it 22-22. Mattison and Wilhelm jumped to block a Johnson spike for a 23-22 lead. A Handley bump that sailed over the net was spiked by Wilhelm to make it 24-22. Finally, Corbin completed the comeback with an ace.

James Wood coach Adrienne Patrick said prior to the match, the team had talked about not putting itself in the situation that it did in the third set. So to see the team dig itself out of it was encouraging.

"I think the ability to come back, small increments at a time, after saying enough is enough and drawing a line in the sand, is tremendous growth," Patrick said. "When we played Handley the first time, we did drop a set to them. I told the girls to be proud of themselves for being determined to work on that comeback instead of just saying, 'We'll get it in the next set.' [We don't want there to be] a next set. That type of grit is what we need to take us through the rest of the regular season and hopefully, continuing into the postseason."

James Wood also received an impressive performance from its setters on Thursday.

The Colonels' two state championship teams featured setters Paige Ahakuelo (also a hitter) and Hannah McCullough, but both graduated last year. Ahakuelo is now the setter for NCAA Division I Delaware State, where she ranks ninth in assists per set in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference.

Plumb has been a constant for the Colonels and led the area with 370 assists heading into Thursday. She had 18 assists, and so did freshman Bella Middleton, whose total is a season-high. Middleton had 67 assists in 22 games coming into Thursday (an average of 3.1 per game) and in averaging 6 assists per game on Thursday she almost doubled that average.

"They're doing a great job," Patrick said. "They're still developing. It's a high-pressure situation for a sophomore and freshman. Coming off such strong leadership that we had in the setting role and trying to find a replacement, it's just kind of unpreparable. Paige is a D-I setter starting in a 5-1 rotation at Delaware State. It's a rebuilding [situation], and I feel like they're really stepping up to the plate. I keep putting them in different pressure situations, and they're handling it well."

Handley coach Kristen Larson liked how her team played in the third set. The Judges had a 13-12 lead in the first set before James Wood went on a 13-5 run, and the second set was tied 17-17 before the Colonels closed with an 8-1 spurt.

"We were a little more focused and mindful on where we were placing the ball, and it worked to our advantage, at least in the first part of the [third] set," said Larson with a laugh. "[James Wood] is a fantastic team. We've seen them now twice, and we've held with them pretty well most of the time in our matches. I hope we get to play them a third time [in the region tournament]."

James Wood will host Millbrook in its next match on Tuesday with a chance to complete a sweep of its Class 4 Northwestern District matches. The Colonels beat the Pioneers 3-0 on Sept. 24, but Millbrook has not lost since and beat Hedgesville 2-1 in a best-of-three match on Tuesday.

"When you see that Milbrook beat [Hedgesville], well, Millbrook is a great program," Patrick said. "I wasn't at that match, so I can't say anything about it. I know what happened to us in the fourth set of the Hedgesville game, and that was us and our errors. Our main prerogative is focusing on our side of the court."

Handley also had four kills and two aces from Teagan Braun-Duin. The Judges are next in action on Tuesday at Skyline.

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