October 15, 2010

By Robert Stocks

The Winchester Star

STEPHENS CITY- Sherando High School's volleyball team really hadn't been challenged all season long in the Northwestern District.

But James Wood put the Warriors to the test in the second meeting between the Frederick County rivals Thursday night.

The Colonels took two sets from Sherando - something no other district team had done this season - but the Warriors overcame a 13-9 deficit in the fifth set to keep their perfect district record intact.

Junior Morgan Sirbaugh had 17 kills and senior Lauren Wilkins added 15 to rally the Warriors to a 3-2 (25-11, 13-25, 25-22, 17-25, 16-14) victory.

"I appreciate the test, but I don't want another test again from James Wood," Sherando coach Chuck Ashby said. "It gives us some momentum to finish out the district."

After being swept by Sherando (14-3, 5-0) in the team's first meeting Sept. 28, James Wood (13-4, 2-3) certainly made the upcoming district tournament much more interesting.

And after being dominated by the Warriors in the opening set Thursday, the Colonels fought back and needed just two points to close out the match in the fifth set before Sherando rallied.

Senior Megan Crabtree reeled off three straight aces to put the Colonels ahead 13-9 in the fifth, but the Warriors responded with five straight points to regain the lead. Wilkins started the run with a kill, and a hitting error by the Colonels cut the deficit to 13-11.

Sherando junior middle hitter Brooke Schneider added a kill, and then Megan Sirbaugh deftly dumped the ball into the back-left corner to tie it 13-13.

Morgan Sirbaugh followed with her first kill of the set, giving Sherando its first match point at 14-13, but James Wood senior Emily Shannon followed with a block to tie the score again.

While both teams possess big-time hitters, two of the biggest points of the set came on touch shots.

After Megan Sirbaugh's push tied it at 13, Morgan Sirbaugh put the Warriors ahead for good by tipping the ball just over the Colonels' front line.

Schneider (12 kills and three blocks) blocked a spike attempt by Shannon on the next point to end it.

"[In] that fifth game, very quietly I just said, 'This is up to you - this is just a gut check,'" Ashby said. "You're going to have to figure out what you're going to do and how you're going to do it before we get to 15."

It seemed Sherando had everything figured out completely with a dominant opening set.

The Warriors quickly took a 13-3 advantage, and two of James Wood's three points came off errant hits by Sherando. The Colonels never cut the lead to less than nine from there.

"I think we got a little cocky going into the second game after such a big win in the first game," Megan Sirbaugh said. "We need to know that we can't let down and that definitely taught us that."

As quickly and convincingly as the Warriors took the opener, James Wood capitalized off three early Sherando service errors and Shannon reeled off three aces to stake the Colonels to an early 7-2 advantage in the second.

James Wood never trailed, crusing to a 12-point advantage before closing out the set.

"We made way too many errors in that first set," James Wood coach Jill Lester said. "I think we got all the errors out of our system and we came ready to play in that second set."

Neither team led by more than four points in the third.

A kill by Schneider put Sherando ahead 22-18, but Hannah Tierney (13 kills) and Shannon (team-high 16 kills) answered with back-to-back kills to cut the deficit to two. James Wood pulled to within one after an errant hit by Schneider.

After a timeout, Sherando pulled away on a service error by Crabtree and a pair of kills by Morgan Sirbaugh.

James Wood never trailed in the fourth, getting solid front-line play from Tierney and Shannon (who each had four kills and a block in the set). The Colonels also capitalized on nine hitting errors by Sherando.

"James Wood is a good club, so you knew they just weren't going to roll over," Ashby said. "I think everyone got down on themselves and got down on the team aspect of it. ... But it was truly a team effort in that fifth game."

The Warriors overcame nine ties in the fifth set to remain unbeaten in district play.

"It was all or nothing, and we just went for it all," Wilkins said. "We let down in the second [set], but we came back and finished the game and that's all that counts."

Despite two five-set district losses this week - the other coming against Handley, which now holds second place - Tierney said the Colonels gained some confidence by pushing the Warriors to the limit.

"We know that we played well so that feels good," said Tierney, who also had a team high five aces and five blocks. "It gives us a good feeling walking away from this game, even though we lost."

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