Colonels hand Warriors rare loss

October 14, 2011

By Robert Stocks

WINCHESTER- When James Wood senior Eleanor Kent hammered home her 15th kill on match point, several of her teammates let out screams and junior setter Emilee Payne tackled senior teammate Erica Hepner.

The Colonels couldn't contain their enthusiasm after dealing defending Northwestern District champion Sherando its first loss in district play since 2009.

James Wood used a total team effort to edge the Warriors 3-2 (25-20, 22-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-10) in Thursday night's volleyball match at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

With the victory, the Colonels (11-4, 4-1) pulled into a first-place tie with Sherando.

"It was the most amazing feeling, and I felt like I couldn't breathe," said Payne, of the team's post-match celebration. "I felt like the world was at our fingers right there and then and it was just an amazing feeling.

"I feel like everyone kind of always looks at us as the underdog and this year we wanted to prove that we're not playing around. This is something that we really want and something that we've really been striving for. We're going for it this year."

Sherando (14-3, 4-1) swept the Colonels earlier this year but the Warriors won all three sets by a combined margin of eight points.

On Thursday night, the two Frederick County rivals went toe-to-toe with each team stringing together points only to have the other team answer right back with a run of its own.

Colonels freshman outside hitter Katie Houser continued her stellar play, setting a new career-high with 26 kills to go along with a team-high 15 digs.

Houser had just two kills in the fifth set, but Kent made sure the Colonels took the momentum early in the deciding set. Her ace off the top of the net knotted the score 4-4 and erased an early two-point advantage by Sherando.

From there, the Colonels reeled off three straight points after a pair of hitting errors by Sherando senior Brooke Schneider and then another ace off the tape by Kent pushed James Wood's advantage to 8-4.

Sherando battled back, cutting the deficit to one after a kill by Morgan Sirbaugh trimmed Wood's lead to 10-9.

The Colonels answered with back-to-back kills by Hepner and one by Wampler that appeared to be just inside the backline. The officials huddled but allowed Wampler's kill that put the Colonels ahead 12-9.

Sirbaugh followed with a kill to cut the deficit to two, but James Wood kept the pressure on by spreading its attacks across the front line.

After a kill by Hepner, Schneider couldn't handle Wampler's serve and the ball bounced off the ceiling lights before dropping to the floor to set up match point.

The Colonels needed four set points to close out the opening set against the Warriors, but Kent hammered home her second kill of the set to clinch the match and start Wood's celebration.

"They're a tough team and it was hard to take them down, but it feels really good to do it," said Kent, who also had a team-high seven aces. "We've always been the underdogs, and I think we just proved that maybe we're not anymore."

The loss was Sherando's first in district play since Millbrook defeated the Warriors in the district tournament final on Nov. 5, 2009. The Warriors finished unbeaten in district play last season and hadn't lost a regular season district match since a 3-2 loss to Wood on Sept. 16 of the same year.

Hitting errors proved costly for Sherando. The Warriors committed nine hitting errors in the first set but then only committed two when they evened the match after taking the second set 25-22.

Houser's nine kills combined with six hitting errors by Sherando helped the Colonels take the third set 25-23. Overall, the Warriors had 24 hitting errors in the match.

In the fourth set, however, James Wood committed six hitting errors, aiding the Warriors on an 8-0 run that turned a two-point deficit into an 18-12 lead.

Then, the Colonels reeled off six straight points, getting kills from Hepner and Houser and then two aces by Wampler.

A net violation on Sirbaugh negated her kill, tying the match 18-18. Sirbaugh added another kill to put Sherando back on top, and the Warriors never trailed from there in taking the fourth set 25-23.

James Wood coach Jill Lester credited her team's passing, particularly the play of libero Kelby Jackson (and setter Payne), for getting the ball up against the Warriors talented front-line duo of Sirbaugh (19 kills) and Schneider (20 kills).

"I thought Kelby Jackson was phenomenal back there as our libero, both passing it and her defense," Lester said. "We can't go to our middles, and we can't set anything quick to our right side if we don't have a perfect pass. Kelby's passing average tonight was phenomenal and without that we wouldn't be able to move the ball around as well as we did on offense."

While Houser (who leads the team with 207 kills in 15 games) and Kent led the Colonels' attack, Wood had three other players combine for 18 kills. Hepner had 10 kills, Wampler chipped in with six and Rachel Rau added two.

"With us, it's not just one attacker," said Houser, who combined for 50 kills in James Wood's two district matches this week. "It's the whole team."

After the Colonels shook hands with the Warriors, Lester grabbed her camera to take a couple shots of her team's celebration in front of their bench.

"At the end of the year we always have a slide show and that's such a fun thing to put together for myself to kind of look back on the season," Lester said. "I definitely wanted to get some moments from tonight."

With the way Lester's team played Thursday, the Colonels might add a few more special moments for their slide show before the season in over.

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