WINCHESTER — From 2022-25, the James Wood volleyball team dominated Virginia High School League’s Class 4 with four straight state championships and just one defeat to a Winchester/Frederick County school, which came in 2022.
Through the first half of the Northwestern District schedule, the Colonels were 0-3 against their local rivals. That all changed Thursday night when James Wood swept Sherando 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 28-26) to gain a split of the season series with the Warriors on the Colonels’ annual Volley for a Cure night at Donald H. Shirley Gymnasium.
It was the fifth straight victory for the Colonels — the last four of which were sweeps — and capped off a busy 3-0 week. (James Wood’s quad at Preston in West Virginia on Saturday has been canceled.) The Colonels (10-4-2) haven’t lost a set since Sept. 26.
For the Warriors (8-7), it was their second straight loss and third in their last four matches. Sherando beat James Wood in their first matchup on Sept. 15, rallying from two sets down to win 3-2.
“How hard the girls played for each other, we’ve had a lot of progression this season as a team,” James Wood coach Joseph Young said. “They’ve really come together. This really shows the growth they’ve made on the court.
“Stick to the process and keep doing what we’re doing. I think the last time we played them we were a little bit too predictable and tonight we did a better job of spreading the ball around. One of our goals is we want to get everyone involved.”
Leading the way for the Colonels was senior Kyla Wilhelm with a match-high 12 kills. She added eight service points. Not far behind her was sophomore Kennedi Bower with nine kills and five service points. Underclassmen Taylor Fishel and Callie Keefer added three kills each.
Both teams had issues with errors in the match. Sherando ended with 29 through the three sets while Wood hurt itself with a total of 14 service errors.
The first set went back and forth with six ties and neither team holding more than a five-point advantage at any time.
James Wood snapped a 4-4 tie with a 6-3 run and grabbed a 10-7 lead on an ace by Kyleigh Bly. The Colonels extended the lead to 15-11 on a block by Bower.
Sherando answered with four straight blocks, two by Hannah Beck and one each by Ashley Smith and Sophia Weir, to tie the set 15-15. The Warriors continued their run for a 17-16 lead.
An error on the Warriors tied the set 17-17 and sparked a Wood run. Back-to-back kills by Wilhelm and another ace by Bly gave Wood its biggest lead of the set at 23-18.
Three straight points by the Warriors closed the gap to 23-21, but kills by Wilhelm and Reese Justice lifted the Colonels to a 25-21 win and and 1-0 set advantage.
In the first set, Wilhelm had five kills for Wood and Bly had four service points and two aces. Beck had three kills in the set for Sherando and Weir and Avery Curtis each had two.
The second set had five ties in the early going. Wood snapped a 7-7 deadlock with a 11-4 run to race out to an 18-11 lead.
Sherando was able to trim the deficit to five (19-14), but that’s as close as the Warriors could get. Wood closed on a 6-2 run and took the second set 25-16.
In the second set, the Colonels were helped immensely by the Warriors. Of Wood’s 25 points, 16 of them came off of Warriors errors, including three from the service line.
The third and final set would feature eight ties, with five of those coming after the two teams had reached 20 points.
Trailing 20-17, two straight errors by Wood pulled the Warriors to within one. Michelle Foster’s kill tied the set 20-20 and gave the Warriors new life.
After a pair of kills by Wilhelm followed by two more Colonels errors, the set was again tied 22-22.
Two more Colonels errors gave the Warriors set point at 24-22. James Wood responded, much to the delight of their home crowd. Kills by Wilhelm and Bower pulled Wood even again at 24-24.
The two teams exchanged points and with the set tied again at 25-25, Sherando retook the lead on a kill by Avery Curtis, and the Warriors had another set point and a chance to extend the match one more time.
However, errors continued to plague Sherando. The Warriors’ fourth service error of the third set made it 26-26, and two more errors by the Warriors gave James Wood the set 28-26, and the match.
Sherando assistant coach Audra Sites liked her team’s effort.
“I just think we really were competitive and we brought the energy and we didn’t let a fault or mistake define our next play,” Sites said. “We just played a really competitive game tonight. The one thing we can do is keep refining those mistakes and get ready for our next game.
“We just need to continue to play like we did in that third set. I think the whole game we were bringing the energy and we’re doing better and better with that. I think if we just continue to do that and gain confidence in ourselves and our abilities we can come back.”
Beck and Smith each had five kills to lead the way for the Warriors. Weir added four and Curtis and Alger each had three. Cameron Golliday and Sophia Zimmerman each had six service points, and Beck added five.
James Wood puts its winning streak on the line Monday night when its travels to undefeated Handley, which is first in Region 4D. Sherando will try to get back on the winning track when it hosts Warren County on Tuesday evening.
“When we had [Handley] the first match of the season, we were a really young team and hadn’t really had a chance to grow at that point, so I’m interested to kind of see the progress that we’ve made and how we can match up against them,” Young said.