COLONELS RALLY BACK AGAINST FALCONS

November 9, 2011
By Greg Brill
Special to The Winchester Star

WARRENTON- Like any postseason match, it takes a lot of grit to survive.

For the James Wood volleyball team, it was getting an extra pass up. It was making sure to stay active at the net. It was being able to get to 25 points first.

It also helped the Colonels a lot to have freshman outside Katie Houser back in the lineup.

After dropping the first set to host Fauquier, James Wood rallied back to take the next three and come away with a 3-1 (18-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-20) win in the Region II quarterfinal round Tuesday night.

"We went to our middles a little more than we have been lately," James Wood coach Jill Lester said of the adjustments her team made as the match progressed. "That seemed to help us mix up our offense a little bit. We wanted to try to get their middle blocker away from our attackers.

"Our passing was our best attribute tonight and it was where it needed to be. Our attackers, after swinging and missing or hitting it out, things like that, they had to make an adjustment to hitting the hole."

Now comes the task of taking on four-time defending state Group AA champ Loudoun County. The Colonels (16-7) will travel to Leesburg on Thursday to take on the Raiders at 7 p.m.

Houser, who missed James Wood's final regular season match at Handley and all of last week's Northwestern District tournament with a broken finger, was cleared by her doctor to play on Tuesday.

She still was wearing a splint on her right hand that covered two fingers. It didn't seem to bother the first team all-district selection as she leveled a match-best 17 kills with only five attack errors.

"I was told it wouldn't cause any more damage, so I played through it," Houser said. "I just decided I wanted to play. In the beginning [of the match], it was a little rough. But I got back into the flow a bit."

When the Colonels started using Houser more as a hitter and moving junior libero Kelby Jackson (15 digs) back away from an attacking position in the second set, that is when Fauquier coach Diana Story felt like James Wood started to make more of an impact in the match.

"The difference was when [Houser] came back in and their true libero [Jackson] went back to libero," Story said. "Right now, Houser is their team. It was obvious from the first set, when she wasn't on the floor, we took over. When they made all their changes, that made all the difference.

"We were still in the match and competed, but Houser was the determining factor tonight."

The Colonels did their best to hustle in coverage against the Falcons, who brought a powerful attack not seen in the first two meetings between the teams.

Coming off a shutout loss in the Evergreen District final to Kettle Run, Fauquier (14-5) was eager to make a statement early on and force the Colonels into plenty of mistakes.

Fauquier came out with 10 kills and just three attack errors and watched with satisfaction as James Wood took awhile to get in gear. The Colonels had a total of 12 errors (eight attack errors and four missed serves) in the first set and were looking for answers to move forward in a positive manner.

"We definitely lacked intensity and enthusiasm and I'm not sure why," said Lester, who would go on to earn her first regional coaching win in her four seasons with the Colonels. "Maybe it was because it was Fauquier and it's hard to beat a [good] team three times.

"Fauquier came to play tonight and we definitely had to step it up a little late in the match. These girls like to keep things exciting."

All told, the Colonels had a tough night with attacking errors (26) and missed serves (14). But what mattered most to James Wood was being able to at least finish things well after slipping in the first set.

In fact, not much would come easy for James Wood as it looked to break even in the match. Things would stay competitive the rest of the way, but at least the Colonels started to get the kind of production they had hoped for with Houser's return to the court.

The second set saw six ties early on before James Wood shot out to a 22-15 lead. Houser, who was worked in and out of the lineup the entire way, got warmed up with four kills in the set and the Colonels were only three points away from evening the match.

However, Fauquier went on a 8-1 run to tie the match at 23-23. Instead of a complete meltdown, though, the Colonels dug deep and were able to get the last two points to clinch the set.

Senior opposite Eleanor Kent (seven kills, three aces, eight digs) sent a spike to the back row that dropped in for the go-ahead point, and an attack error by the Falcons sealed it.

"The first two sets, we had a lot of unforced errors," Houser said. "Then we started cutting down on those and playing a lot better."

The third set saw nine ties, the last coming at 18-18. Fauquier brought its attack from all over, as junior outside Justina Augustine (team-best 14 kills in the match), junior outside Samie Cooper (12 kills), and junior middle blocker Allison Moore (seven kills) helped keep the Falcons dealing.

The strong hitting of Houser, who had six kills in the third, helped the Colonels keep up, but it needed other sources to pull out the set.

After the Falcons had tied it late, Kent again had a clutch kill to force sideout. Jackson then nailed a service ace and junior opposite Erica Hepner (six kills, three total blocks) sent a kill down for a 21-18 lead and forced a Fauquier timeout.

Down the stretch, the Colonels held on. Junior setter Emilee Payne (40 assists, nine digs) switched gears and had one of her five kills on a flip, making it 23-19. The Falcons got their deficit down to two before the Colonels won on back-to-back hitting errors by Fauquier.

The fourth set would see a lot of back and forth, as well. Points were traded at rapid speed, with 13 ties and five lead changes. Houser had another big set, putting up six more kills, the final one leaving the Colonels one point from clinching the match.

"I got the phone call from her mom and she was cleared today [to play]," Lester said of Houser. "We didn't want to have to go to her and give her a couple extra days of rest if we could, but we needed to go to her and we brought her in. I mean, she stepped up well."

Fauquier continued to bring the attacks with Augustine, as she was a thorn in the Colonels' side, leveling three straight kills during one stretch.

James Wood was able to counter by getting its block up as consistent as it had all night and giving Houser some help with the attacks. The Colonels finished the clinching set with 14 kills, giving them 47 in the match.

In the fourth set, Kent added three kills and classmate and middle blocker Rachel Rau had a kill and two total blocks.

When the Falcons sent one more attack into the net, the Colonels had clinched and could think ahead to their next match.

"The seniors really want to go through each round [of the postseason]," Houser said. "I'm really excited about the opportunity to play Loudoun County.