WINCHESTER — Following a 5-0 performance during last Saturday’s Champions Classic tournament, James Wood hosted Sherando on Thursday in a battle of unbeaten teams.
Despite the Warriors’ efforts, it was the Colonels who remained undefeated, taking the victory 3-0 (25-11, 25-10, 25-16).
With this win, the three-time defending Class 4 state champions improved to 7-0 on the season, while Sherando fell to 3-1. James Wood has yet to drop a set this season.
The Colonels were led by senior Kennedy Spaid (14 kills), senior Brenna Corbin (six kills, six aces and nine digs), junior Kyla Wilhelm (10 kills) and junior Kylee Plumb (19 assists, seven digs).
This match marked a milestone for Spaid, who recorded her 1,000th career serve reception. James Wood coach Adrienne Patrick said the occasion gave her team an extra spark down the stretch after the action was briefly paused to commemorate the moment.
“That is something to celebrate. The girls really care about one another,” Patrick said. “So the fact that you get to celebrate something, that brought a little bit more energy to the team.”
The opening set saw Sherando carve out an early 6-3 lead behind an ace from junior Addy Collins and a block from junior Ashley Smith.
However, a trifecta of errors (two hitting, one service) tied things up shortly after. From here, the Colonels settled into a groove and went up 10-6 behind two kills from Spaid, an ace from freshman Macie Hewitt and an additional hitting error on Sherando.
Play went back and forth for a few more serves, with James Wood’s lead still intact, 12-10. However, it was here that the home team truly jumped in front, embarking on a 10-0 run that catapulted it to a 22-10 advantage. Spaid recorded three more kills during this run, helping put her squad in the driver’s seat.
Though a service error ended the Colonels’ run, they finished the job and went up 1-0 behind kills from Spaid and junior Reese Justice and an ace from senior Claire Keefer.
Patrick said her team responded well to the early struggles of the set and took off from there.
“We even talked about that in one of the huddles, about kind of having a little bit of a slow start,” Patrick said. “And we’ve talked that up to being just more intentional on our side about what we were doing. Once we were able to make some of those adjustments, make connections communicate a little bit more, then things started to go a little bit more in our favor.”
The second set saw Sherando commit four early attack errors, helping James Wood carve out an initial 6-2 lead. This was a common theme for the Warriors throughout the match, as they’d routinely keep pace with James Wood and keep the ball off the floor, only to eventually make a mistake after extended back-and-forth sequences.
“[James Wood’s] ball control was what I kind of want to aspire to,” Sherando coach Chuck Ashby said. “I think they just seem to have a better understanding of the court, and they were just serving when they wanted to, where they wanted to. I felt like our girls were in the right spots, it just didn’t always fall our way.”
Though the Warriors were within striking distance, down 12-8 following a kill from Justice, the Colonels once again hit their stride by embarking on an 11-0 run that extended their lead to 23-8. Spaid and Wilhelm each contributed two kills during this stretch, while Corbin recorded an ace.
A few serves later, a hitting error on Sherando ended the set, 25-10, allowing James Wood to go up 2-0.
Sherando once again held its own early in the final set, tying things 3-3 before going down 7-5. Yet, a 7-1 run soon followed for the Colonels, extending their lead to 14-6.
A couple James Wood mistakes, along with two kills from freshman Avery Curtis, helped Sherando fight back and cut the deficit to 18-12. Curtis recorded six of her team’s 10 kills.
From here, a pair of assists from sophomore Bella Middleton set up Corbin for two kills, helping extend James Wood’s lead to 21-15. The Warriors hit the ball out of bounds twice before Spaid’s final kill of the match. A set-clinching block from Wilhelm sealed the sweep for undefeated James Wood.
After the match, Spaid said the key to James Wood’s continued success is the team’s care for one another, on and off the court.
“This program is amazing,” Spaid said. “We focus on being a family and family-oriented. I think that’s what makes us stand out from other teams, because we want to do stuff together instead of for individuals.”
The Colonels will next hit the road and face Liberty on Tuesday at 7 p.m., while the Warriors will be back in action Friday when they host Strasburg at 6 p.m.
— Contact Joe Tuman at jtuman@winchesterstar.com
Follow him on X @jtuman21