Wood wins in sweep

September 10, 2010

By Tom Myrick
Special to The Winchester Star       

WINCHESTER- James Wood needed just 79 minutes to dispatch visiting Hedgesville (W.Va.) Thursday night, sweeping the Eagles 3-0 (25-12, 25-14, 25-22).

The Colonels (4-1) got a typical all-action performance from outside hitter Emily Shannon, who seemed to swing even better as the night went on, finished with a team-best 12 digs and 12 kills.

Wood also hammered 19 aces - five of which came from senior Megan Crabtree - and used their dominant serves to spring big runs that broke open the first and second sets.

"Megan is a very consistent server," Colonels coach Jill Lester said. "She is good under pressure. She's got the capability of tuning out the crowd and tuning out what else is going on, and [she] uses that to her advantage."

But the real story of the night may have been James Wood's depth off the bench. Nine different Colonels recorded at least one kill, including three kills and two aces for sophomore Tarah Wampler.

"Those girls are the future of James Wood volleyball," Shannon said. "I totally respect when they go in for me, because they have just as much ability as anyone else."

Even with some new faces in the rotation, the Colonels never missed a beat. They committed just four hitting errors in the first two sets and just eight total service errors in the match - a consistency Lester chalks up to team leadership.

"The seniors know this is the last year, and they are not going to let any minute pass them by where they are not 100 percent into what is happening on the court," she said. After knocking off Handley in their season opener, the Eagles (1-1) looked set to give another Northwestern District team a stern test, as they traded blows with James Wood to open the match.

A Lauren Hockenberry kill gave the visitors an early 5-4 edge in the first set, but it would be the only lead the Eagles enjoyed all match.

The Colonels responded with a monster 14-2 run, led by three Crabtree kills and aces from Shannon, Hannah Tierney and Emilee Payne.

Six different Colonels had a kill in the first set, as they closed out a comfortable game with a Wampler ace down the right sideline.

The second set started in similar fashion, as both teams swapped points early, until Crabtree took over. With the Colonels leading 8-5, the animated outside hitter single-handedly earned four consecutive points (three aces, one kill) to spark a 13-2 James Wood run.

"I felt really good about my serve," Crabtree said. "When you get aces, it just feels so good. So I just tried to stay focused and keep that mentality up."

The Eagles tried to claw their way back with a 7-2 run late in the set - a charge that included their first ace of the game by Ashley Ferretti. But it was too little, too late as the Colonels again sealed the set with an ace, this time from Erica Hepner.

From there, Hedgesville buckled down, making the third set a cagey, hard-fought affair. Despite a 6-1 lead for the Colonels, the Eagles fought their way back thanks to three kills from senior Juliette Rapp.

James Wood, meanwhile, lost a bit of the crisp play that had led to easy victories in the first two sets. An unforced hitting error and a ball handling error by Shannon gave Hedgesville a second chance, leveling the scores at 12-12.

"We went with a totally different rotation in the third," Lester said. "We had different girls playing different positions. Hannah Tierney is one of our middles, and I had her playing right side. So everything in the third set was different, and we just had to work the kinks out a little bit. But it's good to play around with the rotation a little bit, just to have options down the road."

The Colonels got those kinks worked out just in time.

After being gifted a pair of points off service errors, a Shannon blast and a block from Tierney and Hepner gave James Wood an insurmountable 21-16 lead, and a clinical spike from Peyton Clark sealed the victory.

Emilee Payne led the Colonels with 19 assists, and James Wood finished the night with just seven hitter errors - a testament to the setter's accuracy.