WINCHESTER — No matter how many times Millbrook volleyball found itself backed into a corner on Thursday, it always found a way to respond.
The North top-seeded Pioneers fended off North No. 3 seed James Wood’s best efforts in a dramatic 3-0 sweep (31-29, 25-19, 25-23) to improve to 21-1 and punch their ticket to the Region 4D Tournament finals. The win also qualified Millbrook for the state tournament for the first time since 2021.
Millbrook will host Blacksburg in the finals at 6 p.m. Tuesday. Winners of the previous Class 4 state championships, James Wood’s season ended at 14-7-2.
The Pioneers trailed the Colonels 19-15 in the third set, but responded with vigor. All 10 of Millbrook’s final points came via a kill, ace or block, as James Wood didn’t commit any errors to spot the home team anything extra.
Senior Lora Totcheva, who recorded all three set-winning kills, said the Pioneers’ goals motivated them to fight back against the Colonels.
“Just in our heads, thinking about how much we truly wanted it [motivated us],” Totcheva said. “We just think we’re really deserving of this because of how far we’ve come and all the battles we’ve put up with, whether that’s out of or in volleyball. We just wanted it.”
Totcheva finished with 18 kills, while Avery Fauver added 14 kills and 13 digs. Additionally, McKenna Homans had six kills, 36 assists and 10 digs, Hannah Mood recorded 10 kills, Kate Madden tallied 26 digs and three aces and Madi Carter had 12 digs.
The Pioneers needed a collective effort to get over the finish line in a grueling first set that saw both sides struggle to sustain service runs for most of the opening frame. The set yielded 26 total ties.
Two kills from Fauver and James Wood’s Kennedi Bower helped bring up a 10-10 tie before a block by the Pioneers’ Randi Hancock tied the set at 15.
This sparked a 4-0 Millbrook run, as Fauver recorded two kills and Mood added a third to give their team an 18-15 lead.
This prompted James Wood to call time, and the Colonels came out of the huddle on a 3-0 run of their own. Two errors contributed before Kylee Plumb recorded a running dig that allowed Bower to swoop in at the left pin for a set-tying kill.
Totcheva soon floated two balls just over the net to help give her team a 22-20 advantage. A Fauver dig led to another kill by Totcheva, prompting the Colonels to call time down 23-21. Two errors then tied the set at 23, causing a Millbrook timeout.
A Fauver kill tied the set at 24, a Wood service error made it 25-25, Taylor Fishel tied the set at both 26 and 27 and Bower and Fauver traded kills to bring up 28-28.
After a James Wood error, Bower came through again to tie the set at 29. The Colonels then committed an attack error, setting up Totcheva for a kill that hit the floor after bouncing off a defender’s arms and rocketing off the ceiling.
Totcheva said winning this 31-29 set helped motivate Millbrook further, while Pioneers head coach Dave White said he thought his players handled the long opening stretch well.
“That was only three sets, but it felt like seven,” White said. “I thought we did an amazing job under that pressure, receiving serve and getting big swings. But [the Colonels] were doing the same thing on their side.”
Bower, who ended the first set with eight kills, led James Wood with 17 in total. Kyla Wilhelm added 13 kills and two aces, Reese Justice had five kills, a block and an ace and Macie Hewitt recorded two aces.
James Wood head coach Joey Young said Bower grew as a leader during her sophomore year.
“She’s taken more of a leadership role on the team, and I think she knows that she is a very bright spot in the future of this program,” Young said. “She’s going to be one of our big-time leaders going forward. So it was interesting to see her kind of learn that role and grow into it and really progress over the season.”
After the wild back-and-forth, Millbrook settled in and led 7-3 in set two behind two Madden aces and another from Mood.
A kill by Bower and an ace by Hewitt helped James Wood come back and tie the set at eight before another Millbrook ace, this time courtesy of Isley Hott, made it 10-8.
Justice put James Wood up 11-10 with a block, and she recorded an ace to move the lead to 13-11.
Madden recorded a dig that led into a Homans assist to Fauver to put Millbrook back in front (14-13) before another Madden ace and a kill by Mood caused James Wood to call time trailing 17-14.
After Millbrook committed five first-set service errors, Madden said the team was focused on being productive in that area the rest of the way.
“After the first set, we wanted to serve more aggressively,” Madden said. “So we just went back there and tried to keep [James Wood] out of system and just go back and rip it, but still keep it in the court.”
After the two sides combined for three errors, Homans started a 4-1 run with a kill that made it 19-16.
Totcheva trailed and ran up to the net for a kill at the right pin to add another point before also striking off an assist from Lanie Yeggy to put the Pioneers up 21-17.
After an error made it 22-17, Bower tapped the ball over and the Pioneers made a mistake that brought up a 22-19 score. After a James Wood error on a block attempt, Mood struck at the left pin and Homans assisted Totcheva to put Millbrook ahead 2-0 with a 25-19 win.
“She came out really excited to play tonight,” White said of Totcheva. “She had a big smile and did some amazing things. This was probably her best hitting night. She had an amazing night, and especially at the right moments, too. The ball was finding her, and she was taking care of business.”
Millbrook jumped ahead 7-2 in the final set, but James Wood refused to go quietly. Justice tipped the ball over the net to make it 8-6 and two Bower kills helped tie the set at eight.
Totcheva answered with two kills, including one that tied the set at 11, before Wilhelm and Putt recorded kills to help James Wood go ahead 14-11.
Two errors and a Fauver kill tied the set at 14, but a service error sparked a 3-0 James Wood run that ended with two Wilhelm kills.
A Fishel kill and a Wilhelm ace extended the lead to 19-15, but Millbrook would outscore James Wood 10-4 from this point on.
After Fauver and Bower again traded kills, Madden dove for a dig that led right into an assist from Homans to Mood to make it 20-17.
Fauver recorded an ace and Totcheva notched two kills, the latter of which bounced off the Colonels’ serve reception and right back to Totcheva on the other side of the net.
Now ahead by one, James Wood called time, only for Homans and Abby Claywell to make a play at the net out of the huddle, recording a set-tying block for Millbrook.
A Wilhelm kill and a Bower ace put James Wood ahead by two, but Homans set up Totcheva for two kills that tied the set at 23.
After one last Colonels timeout, Homans recorded an ace that bounced off a James Wood player’s arm and Fauver recorded a dig that led to Homans assisting Totcheva one final time for a 25-23 win to send the Pioneers to the state tournament and the region final.
Madden said the late-match dramatics didn’t overwhelm the Pioneers.
“We just trust each other and just tell each other to stay calm,” Madden said. “Because we can always come back and battle back and play together.”
For the Colonels, this loss officially ended their four-year streak as state champions. Young said seniors Wilhelm, Plumb, Justice and Kyleigh Bly will be greatly missed.
“They meant everything,” Young said. “They have tons of experience, obviously. They know how to play big in big moments, and even for me at certain times, as a coach in the varsity game, I leaned on them a little bit to know what worked well for them in the past, and I relied on their leadership.”
Ahead of Millbrook’s region championship match against Blacksburg, White said he’s proud of how far his team has come after losing seniors Aaliyah Green and Paisley Cook to season-ending injuries in the summer. White added he wished the best for other community volleyball figures like Sherando coach Chuck Ashby and Handley outside hitter Breeze Johnson, who weren’t able to finish the season due to personal matters and an injury, respectively.
“From the start of the season, not knowing which direction we were going, to build the friendships that they’ve built, and then to pull together in the end … it means a lot to me,” White said. “It means a lot to the team. James Wood was an awesome team. Coach Joey did an amazing job, but it feels great to finally get it done. It’s awesome.”
— Contact Joe Tuman at jtuman@winchesterstar.com
Follow him on X @jtuman21