Wood volleyball rallies to defeat Dominion and stay alive in state tournament

WINCHESTER — Championship teams find a way to win when all else seems to indicate otherwise, and that’s exactly what the James Wood High School volleyball team showcased on Saturday.

For the first time since Oct. 22, the Colonels found themselves down 2-1 in sets on Saturday, this time against Dominion in the quarterfinals of the Class 4 state tournament.

And even when James Wood trailed in the fourth set, the Colonels dug in and dug themselves out of a deficit to eventually defeat Dominion in five sets with the scores of 20-25, 25-13, 23-25, 25-17, 15-5 in Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

The five-set victory pushed Wood (21-3) one match closer to playing in the state title match for the third year in a row, as the Colonels will host Atlee in the semifinals at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

After taking the fourth set by eight points and tying the match, the Colonels rode all their momentum into the fifth set, as Addie Pitcock delivered the match-winning kill on a bump over the net into an empty gap of the Titans’ defense.

Pitcock’s kill came at the culmination of a hard-fought match that appeared to be in favor of the Titans (22-4). That was until the two-time defending Class 4 champions weathered the storm and won the final two sets.

“We always have grit,” Pitcock said. “That’s one thing this team has: grit. We always try to push no matter what.”

As the Colonels rushed the court to celebrate with Pitcock in a dogpile, James Wood coach Adrienne Patrick made sure her team realized how resilient it is.

“That's even what I said at the end of our dogpile and screaming,” Patrick said. “It's what I said about how what this night showed us is that we can dig ourselves into holes, and then we can dig ourselves out of the hole.”

After dropping just one set in their previous six matches, the Colonels dug themselves into a hole far deeper than they were used to.

Trailing 2-1 in sets, the Colonels were down 9-5 in the fourth set and in danger of ending their season with a loss for the first time since 2021. But with a strong burst from Kennedy Spaid, Wood proceeded to go on a 14-5 run to take a 19-14 lead.

At that point, the Colonels recaptured momentum and ultimately went on to win the fourth set and tie the match after a kill from Brenna Corbin.

Dominion gave its best shot at righting the ship to open the fifth and final set. But behind three kills, two aces and one block from Spaid in the first 11 possessions, the Colonels took an 8-3 lead and never looked back.

And after three kills from Corbin and a kill and a block from Tenley Mattison, Pitcock ended up hitting the ball into an open area for the match-winning kill.

As Pitcock smiled ear to ear with joy, she was met by screaming teammates and her coaches jumping on top of her.

“It felt amazing,” Pitcock said. “We're a family; they have my back. They're really proud of me, and it just meant everything to me.”

Patrick said watching Pitcock deliver the match-winning kill was "almost like a parental moment" for her.

"It's hard for me to put into words because Addie is an athlete who works extremely hard," Patrick said, trying to hold back tears. "She does every single thing right, and sometimes just because you do, that doesn't mean your name is always going to be in the lights. But she always puts her head down and does the work."

Pitcock, the only senior on the Colonels’ roster, said she helped rally her team after they didn’t play with enough energy.

“I knew we were struggling, and I knew it was kind of my choice, like, ‘Okay, I need to step up as a leader and as a senior to keep on talking to my team and keep on bringing everybody up,’” Pitcock said. “And that's kind of what we all did, and then we all started talking up each other. So, then it all made everything go.”

Dominion captured the first set, going on a 6-1 run to close it out after the game was tied at 19 apiece.

Although the Colonels trailed 8-4 in the second set, they made up for it with a 21-5 run spurred by two kills and two aces from Spaid. Kylee Plumb ended up coming through with the game-winning kill in the second set, faking a pass like she was going to give one of her teammates a set before tapping the ball into an empty space on the other side of the net.

“A little bit of nerves in the beginning, but we all came together and told each other that we're doing this for each other, and we need to dominate because this is our last chance,” said Spaid, who finished with 18 kills and six aces. “I feel like we did that tonight, and our team bond has gotten [even more] tight since then.”

While it appeared that the Colonels were beginning to come into form heading into the third set, Dominion didn’t let up and went up 16-12. Wood ended up closing in on the Titans and was only down 24-23. But the hope of gaining a 2-1 set lead ran out quickly for the Colonels, as Dominion outside hitter Amaya Bowles slapped down a kill to give her team the one-set advantage again.

Patrick thought that her team was a bit nervous early in the match even though the Colonels opened this season with a 3-1 win over Dominion.

“We were a bit on our heels, and to be honest, even a lot of the players said it in some of the huddles about maybe being a little bit in the nerves category,” Patrick said. “It's kind of hard to explain that because we have played them before.”

When it came down to it, the Colonels put those nerves aside and made sure they were going to host another playoff match.

“I think that when we expect them to be worse, then we play down to their level, and I think that wasn’t good,” Mattison said. “So that's what happened in the first set. We were just down. We just had no energy, [and] we weren't talking, but I think we realized how important this is, and how much it means to us to win. And then we picked it back up.”

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