WINCHESTER — No matter how much visiting James Wood threw at Millbrook volleyball on Tuesday, the Pioneers found a way to answer when it mattered most.
Millbrook rallied from a 7-1 fourth-set hole to defeat the Colonels 3-1 (28-26, 25-19, 24-26, 25-21) and improve to 6-1 this season. James Wood fell to 5-4-2 after losing to the Pioneers for the first time since 2022.
Millbrook was led by Avery Fauver’s 23 kills and two aces, Lora Totcheva’s 13 kills, Kate Madden’s 22 digs, Madi Carter’s 17 digs, Reagan Knotts’ five blocks and McKenna Homans’ 36 assists, six kills and 10 digs.
“We really liked the effort,” Pioneers’ head coach Dave White said. “Obviously, we don’t want to dig those big holes. But they were serving really tough at points, and I think it’s apparent that we had 12 people, everybody pitching in. It definitely wasn’t just one or two people. We had a full team effort tonight.”
After a few early errors and strong play at the net helped the Colonels jump ahead by six in the final frame, Millbrook cut into the deficit with a pair of Fauver kills and a quick-thinking dump from Homans. Yet, James Wood kept building momentum, benefiting from impressive passing by Kylee Plumb and Sophia Rodeffer that set up Kyla Wilhelm for multiple kills that helped make it 13-6 Colonels.
Totcheva recorded a kill up front to kick off a 5-1 Millbrook run that saw Homans record an ace and set up Fauver and Hannah Mood for kills that shortened James Wood’s lead to 15-12.
Two big plays by Justice at the net, assisted by Plumb, and a Macie Hewitt ace extended the lead to 19-14, but Millbrook rallied shortly after.
A 7-1 Pioneers’ run began when Fauver recorded a kill, and she added another to make it 20-17. A Totcheva dig led right into a Homans kill for another point and an error on Wood cut the deficit to one before Totcheva tapped the ball down by the far pin to tie the set up. Homans then recorded a block with some help up front from Abby Claywell to give the Pioneers the lead.
After James Wood scored on an error, Totcheva got the ball to drop in front of the end line to give Millbrook a 22-21 lead. An error and an ace by Isley Hott brought up match point before Homans set up Totcheva for her final kill.
Both Wilhelm and Kennedi Bower finished with 20 kills and 14 digs for the Colonels. Reese Justice recorded six kills and two blocks, Plumb tallied 28 assists, Rodeffer added 15 assists, eight digs and three aces, and Macie Hewitt totaled 19 digs and two aces.
Totcheva said she and her teammates never hung their heads despite James Wood’s ability to fight back.
“I saw us picking [ourselves] up,” Totcheva said. “When certain people got points scored on them, or we just were down as a team, we picked it up really fast. We don’t let ourselves get in a hole. We just pick up and get our get back.”
“I think in years past this team might have folded in that set,” White said. “I just want to take away that they didn’t do that. They really pulled together in the timeouts. They were talking to each other about just staying calm, taking deep breaths, and I think that was what drove them. I think we got a couple big plays, and that sparked energy.”
As tense as the final set was, the first was arguably even more competitive. James Wood led 7-5 early and extended its lead to 12-8 after three consecutive Millbrook errors that prompted White to call a timeout.
Totcheva and Hannah Mood combined for three kills to cut the deficit to 15-12 before three Bower attacks helped the visitors go ahead 18-13.
Wilhelm met Knotts at the net and snuck a kill past her to make it 20-17, but Homans recorded a kill and found Tortcheva for another to cut the deficit to 21-19. A block by Knotts and kills from Fauver and Mood tied the set at 22 before a pair of errors kept things even.
Fauver recorded a kill that was answered by a Plumb dump to make it 24-24 before Fauver struck again to give her team the lead. Three straight errors made it 26-26, a service error brought up set point and Homans connected with Mood to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead.
Totcheva said Millbrook’s ability to win multiple closely contested sets stemmed from its determination, and added that the Pioneers’ knack for getting everyone to touch the ball also helps players stay engaged.
“You’ve just got to want it more. That’s just a simple way to win,” Totcheva said. “We had a bunch of great passes, great sets, a bunch of consistency at the end, and that really helps, especially since it’s coming from everybody.”
Millbrook went ahead 7-3 in set two on an impressive sequence where a Madden dig led directly into a pass from Homans to Fauver for a point.
Three consecutive Millbrook errors and a Wilhelm kill tied the set at nine, and the action was soon knotted at 10-10 and 11-11 as well. A 4-0 Carter service run gave Millbrook a 15-11 lead, bringing up a Colonels timeout.
Kills by Mood and Fauver, along with two errors, extended the lead to 19-13, and passes from Mood to Homans and back to Mood made it 20-15.
After four straight errors brought up 22-17, Homans saved a possession by making an off-balance, one-handed kill at the middle of the net to give Millbrook a 23-17 lead. Two errors then ended the set 25-19.
James Wood took the third set after going up 9-6 early when Sophia Rodeffer recorded back-to-back aces and set up Bower for a kill.
Back-to-back Homans kills made it 13-12 Millbrook before Totcheva also recorded two straight points to move the lead to 15-13.
A 5-0 James Wood run saw Plumb find Bower to tie the set at 16, Justice leap up for a block to give the Colonels the lead and Plumb connect with Bower again after a Hewitt dig to give the Colonels an 18-16 advantage.
Mood and Knotts both made plays at the net to tie it 18-18 before Madden recorded a dig that nearly hit the ground, only for Carter to dive for it and narrowly hit it past the far pin for a point that caught James Wood’s defense off guard.
With Millbrook up one, Taylor Fishel capped off a 4-0 Colonels run with a block, making it 22-19.
Madden recorded two digs after hard hits by Bower, leading to Homans setting up Fauver to make it 22-21.
Madden’s ability to fend off aggressive hits from Bower and Wilhelm throughout the night is something White said was crucial in the Pioneers’ win.
“She’s huge playing the middle back for us,” White said. “She was really calm back there, and that’s what I love about Kate … she’s not chaotic, and I think her being simple and calm back there makes the other five on the court kind of fall in line with her and be calm as well.”
After Madden’s defensive plays, Bower responded with a hard-hit kill toward a different defender, making it 23-21. She later hit the ball across the net for a kill that made it 24-23, before an error tied the set.
Rodeffer then set up Wilhelm, who lightly tapped the ball over to make it 25-24. An attack error then awarded set three to James Wood.
With this loss, the defending state champion Colonels have now been defeated by all three of their local Class 4 rivals.
James Wood has taken at least one set in each of those three matches, and head coach Joey Young said he’s confident his players will soon turn the tide.
“I think you’re seeing the growth and maturation of a team as we’ve gone along throughout these matches,” Young said. “As you can see in all of our local matches, everything has been really, really close, and we’re right there.
“The coaches know that, the girls know that, and we really know that the work that we’re putting in practice and the mentality that we bring, that’s going to start to show up and affect these matches to where we can start getting over the hump as the season goes along.”
Millbrook’s strong start has come despite season-ending injuries to senior outside hitter Aaliyah Green and senior setter Paisley Cook before the school year began. White said the Pioneers have been determined not to falter despite losing talented players.
“They’re ready to fill in the gaps where they can, and I think so far they’ve done it very well,” White said. “It’s a group that is meshing. I love our locker room right now. They love hanging out with each other, and I think that’s worth a lot of points on the court when you have kids that want to be on the team together and play together.”
— Contact Joe Tuman at jtuman@winchesterstar.com
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