October 13, 2010

By Mark Sawyer - Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER- It was almost all set up, the rematch everyone was waiting for. The battle between district and county rivals. The volleyball match between unbeaten Sherando and once-beaten James Wood to decide the Northwestern District regular season champion Thursday night at Sherando High School.

However, somebody forgot to tell Handley how the rest of the week was supposed to play out.

The Judges rallied from two sets down and stormed back to shock James Wood 3-2 (22-25, 9-25, 25-18, 25-21, 16-14) Tuesday night at Hunter Maddex-Jimmy Omps Gymnasium, essentially handing Sherando the regular-season title. (The Warriors hold a two-match lead on everyone with just four matches left, and they have yet to lose a set in district play.)

The battle now shifts from a fight for the top spot to one for second place. Handley, Wood, and Skyline each have two district losses. "I think definitely it shows us what we're capable of," Handley coach Lindsay Hazelette said of Tuesday's win. "I think improvements can still be made, but we were on our 'A' game tonight and we took it out on the court. It was a team effort, and they came to battle tonight. Handley pride showed on the court."

Senior Colleen Koppenhaver's match-clincher touched off a celebration the Judges haven't had in quite some time following a James Wood match.

This is the first time the Judges have beaten Millbrook and James Wood in the same season since 2004, quite a gift for assistant coach John Lynch, who celebrated his birthday Tuesday night and was serenaded by Handley's fans before the match.

"I was excited that we came back from being down two games," Koppenhaver said. "I think we had the momentum in the fifth game that we needed to win. I don't think we've had a better team, so I'm excited [for the rest of the year]."

Koppenhaver's heroics were needed deep in the fifth set because the teams battled to a stalemate through the first four.

James Wood (11-4, 2-2) appeared to have recovered from blowing a two-set lead by jumping out to an early 6-3 lead in fifth. But the Judges responded with four straight points to take the lead.

A Megan Crabtree kill gave the Colonels a 9-7 lead, and a Handley (7-8, 2-2) hitting error made it 10-7.

But Handley battled back to tie the score at 12-12.

Emily Shannon gave the Colonels their last lead with one of her match-high 22 kills, but Handley's Dierdre Carter answered with one of her own to make it 13-13. The teams again exchanged points, this time with a Koppenhaver point before Shannon again saved the Colonels with her final kill of the night.

With James Wood possibly serving for the match, Handley junior Alex Bazdar slammed home what may be the biggest kill of her young career, setting the stage for Koppenhaver to size one up and send it toward the back baseline, just off the outstretched arms of Crabtree to finish the match.

"I wasn't really thinking about it," Koppenhaver said. "I didn't know what to do with the ball, so I just pushed it over because I was out of position to hit it, and that's what felt comfortable. I actually thought it was going out of bounds, so I was kind of disappointed at first."

James Wood took first two sets behind the "big three" on its front line. Shannon, Crabtree, and Hannah Tierney dominated the net, putting away a combined 17 kills in the first two sets alone.

But things begin to unravel for the Colonels in the third set. They only held one lead, at 3-2. A pair of errors back-to-back broke a 5-5 tie, giving Handley the lead for good and highlighting Wood's troubles.

The Colonels had 24 attack errors in the match.

"Frustration. You know we work incredibly hard in practice, and we come in here with 24 hitting errors - that's a tough pill to swallow," James Wood coach Jill Lester said. "I think they [Handley] played tremendous defense, but we made 24 hitting errors. You're not gonna win a match with that."

In the fourth set, the Colonels jumped out to an early 6-4 lead but setter Emilee Payne was injured and had to briefly leave the floor. In her absence, the Judges scored six straight points to grab a 10-6 lead, and though Payne returned to the game, the Colonels couldn't fully recover.

"It means a lot to finally come out and beat a county school," Handley senior Lauren Wingfield said. "It was really exciting to take it to five games and push ourselves further than we've pushed ourselves this season. We thought we could do it, we just had to step it up, fight and give it our all no matter what. I'm just very excited. My senior year, and we just beat our second [Frederick] County school."

The Judges were led by Carter's 11 kills, four blocks, and seven digs. Wingfield added eight kills, and Koppenhaver had five digs.

Shannon and Crabtree each had 25 digs for James Wood, with Crabtree adding nine kills. Tierney had 10 kills and eight blocks, and Payne had 40 assists.

"I'm confident in the girls," Lester said. "It's a little bump in the road, and we'll be ready on Thursday for Sherando."