WOOD SWEEPS HAWKS

October 26, 2011
By Meredith Cox
Special to The Winchester Star

WINCHESTER- Having swept Skyline earlier this month, the James Wood volleyball team felt confident coming into its Tuesday night home game against the Hawks.

With a little push from their coach, and fittingly, some senior leadership and skill, the Colonels were able to sweep the Hawks 3-0 (25-16, 29-27, 25-9) on Senior Night at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.

"With the combination of Eleanor Kent at the service line, Cate Beach on defense and Rachel Rau out there on offense, I thought they all put on a tremendous performance this evening," said James Wood coach Jill Lester in reference to her three seniors. "The team as a whole played with a lot of heart."

Even though this game seemed like an easy win in the box score, Skyline (6-11, 0-7 Northwestern District) did not leave without putting up a fight. In fact, in the second game, the Hawks were up the majority of the set until James Wood (14-5, 5-2) tied it up at 22 and eventually stole the game away. "We carried the momentum from the end of the first game into the second, but just couldn't hold onto it," said Skyline coach Lesley Detweiler. "We started moving more and definitely served received a lot better in that second game which helped us be able to put our offense out there more."

Skyline did put forth a good effort, but it was no match for James Wood's three seniors.

In the first game James Wood found itself down early 3-1 after an offside call, a net serve by middle blocker Erica Hepner, and an ace by Skyline's Megan Reinhardt. However, after a few back and forth points, James Wood senior outside hitter Eleanor Kent came in with a huge kill to take a 9-7 lead. The Colonels never looked back from there. Teammate outside hitter Tarah Wampler scored the next four points at the service line to lead a 6-0 run by the Colonels.

Skyline came out fighting again the second game, but James Wood took a quick 5-1 lead with a kill by senior outside hitter Rachel Rau and a smart tip by Kent. Skyline called a quick timeout to get things under control. The Hawks took the lead and went on a 9-4 run with an ace by setter Lauren Moore and a kill by outside hitter Lindsay LeHew.

But it was a senior that pulled through for James Wood. Down 18-12, Rau did not want to let the Hawks steal any momentum. She helped pull her team to a 22-22 tie with three of her career-high 14 kills and a tip-in during the Colonels' 10-4 run.

"I always want to come out and do my best," Rau said. "For me the pressure was on because I wasn't in my normal position and I didn't want to let the team down."

She did nothing of the sort.

With a battle to the end in the second game, Rau had a streamlined kill that went straight past the Hawks that helped the Colonels win the game 29-27.

Skyline lost all its momentum in the third. James Wood went up 8-1 before Skyline called a quick timeout. Coach Detweiler wasn't able to get her girls going as Wood dominated every point. Again, Rau came in with a big finish with a tip and a huge ace to finish the game 25-9.

James Wood faces Handley Thursday night in the last game of the regular season. Playoffs begin next week and will be hosted by James Wood.

"We need to maintain our defense for Handley and polish up a little bit on our offense," Lester said. "Combine those two and we can show Handley what James Wood volleyball is all about.