Volleyball vs. Sherando

September 29, 2010

By Robert Stocks

The Winchester Star       

WINCHESTER- Whenever Sherando High School's volleyball team needed a big point in Tuesday night's Northwestern District showdown at James Wood, senior Lauren Wilkins delivered.

She opened the match with a kill, and also finished it off with one.

But it was in between, when the Warriors stared at deficits late in each of the first two sets, that Wilkins made the points that mattered most.

Wilkins finished with 14 kills, leading Sherando to a 3-0 (25-22, 26-24, 25-14) sweep of the rival Colonels at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

Sherando coach Chuck Ashby said he stressed to his team the importance of not trying to go point-for-point against the Colonels, and the Warriors' hitters made sure there were no such issues.

"I kept telling Megan [Sirbaugh] to set the ball high, put it where it needs to be and your hitters will take care of it," said Ashby, whose team improved to 10-3, 2-0 in the district. "And that's what they did."

The Colonels (9-2, 1-1) held a four-point lead late in the first set and a three-point advantage late in the second, but the Warriors rallied both times. James Wood led 22-18 in the first set, but a tip by Sirbaugh followed by a kill from Wilkins cut the lead to two and gave Sherando momentum it never relinquished.

After an ace by Megan James and a net violation on the Colonels, Wilkins deftly tipped a shot over Wood's front line to put Sherando ahead 23-22.

Wilkins followed her tip with her sixth kill of the set, and Morgan Sirbaugh capped a 7-0 Warrior run with her fifth kill to clinch it.

Wilkins said she always tries to vary her shots to keep opposing teams off balance.

"You've definitely got to be able to mix it up," said Wilkins, who helped the Warriors survive 11 ties in the opening set. "They'll be waiting on different lines [otherwise]. You've got to look for the holes, and I've got [teammates] telling me what to do. I just tipped it and it all worked out."

Sherando started quickly in the second set, going ahead 12-6, but the Colonels pulled even.

Emily Shannon had back-to-back kills, and Peyton Clark capped a 6-0 run with one of her team-high four blocks to tie it at 12.

Neither team led by more than three the rest of the way, and the Colonels appeared to take control after two kills by Crabtree put James Wood ahead 23-20.

After a Sherando timeout, the Colonels committed a hitting error, and then Morgan Sirbaugh served two straight points (including an ace) to knot it at 23.

James Wood moved within a point of taking the second set after a kill by Clark, but Wilkins evened the score with a tip that found an open spot on the floor.

Sherando pulled ahead after a bad set led to a hitting error by James Wood, and the Warriors closed it out when a spike by Crabtree sailed long.

"It's all heart, and you can't coach that," Ashby said of the comebacks. "They could have quit at 22-18 [in the opening set] and said, 'All right, we'll go for the second game.' They didn't. They didn't stop one time, and they just played right through."

The Warriors took control of the third set quickly, getting a kill and three aces from Brooke Schneider (six kills) in a 6-0 run that staked Sherando to an 11-3 lead.

James Wood never cut the deficit to less than five the rest of the way, and Colonels coach Jill Lester said it was tough for her team to try to overcome a 2-0 deficit after leading late in each of the first two sets.

"The first two sets - those were tough losses because I felt like we played with such intensity," Lester said. "We played incredible defense those first two sets, and it's like you want a reward those incredible defensive plays with a win. ...

"I think we just had too many hitting errors tonight. I think we had 11 hitting errors, and that's just too many in a tight match like that."

Lester said the Colonels struggled getting the ball to top hitters Shannon (who had a team-high seven kills) and middle blocker Hannah Tierney.

"Hannah only was set four times tonight - that's it," Lester said. "Emily only had six or seven kills. We need to get the ball to our attackers more."

Emilee Payne led the Colonels with 13 assists, and Kelby Jackson made a team-high nine digs.

"I think we had plenty of chances to take over," said Crabtree, who had a team-best three aces. "Our intensity was really high, but we just got stuck at times. [Sherando] served really well, and on defense they blocked us a couple times. They had pretty good defense, so that was kind of frustrating us."

It's still early in the district season, but the Warriors cleared one of their biggest hurdles in their quest for another regular season title. (The teams - which split the regular season series last year - meet again Oct. 14.)

"It's big, and they're one of our biggest competition," said Morgan Sirbaugh, who finished with eight kills. "It puts us at the top of the district, so I'm pretty excited.

"I know they're going to come out a thousand times harder next time, so we'll just have to bring it and see what happens."

NOTE: Lester said Shannon, a first-team all-district selection last season, gave a verbal commitment Monday to play at Division I University of Maryland-Eastern Shore on a full athletic scholarship.

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