STEPHENS CITY — Sherando volleyball refused to give in.
After dropping the first two sets to visiting James Wood, the Warriors rallied to reverse sweep the Colonels 3-2 (14-25, 12-25, 25-20, 25-21, 15-11) and improve to 5-3.
James Wood fell to 3-2. This marked Sherando’s first win over the four-time defending Class 4 state champions since 2011.
Outside hitter Sophie Weir slammed home the last of her 15 kills to clinch victory for her team, while sophomore middle blocker Avery Curtis returned from injury and made an impact at the net, recording nine kills and five blocks.
James Wood was led by Kennedi Bower’s 17 kills, 17 digs, five aces and three blocks, Kyla Wilhelm’s 14 kills, seven digs and five aces, Kylee Plumb’s 18 assists and 16 digs and Macie Hewitt’s 24 digs and six assists.
Weir said it felt really good to record the winning point, adding that Sherando’s comeback came after the team brought more energy.
“I was telling [setter] Sophia [Zimmerman], ‘give me the ball,’ because I was ready. I really wanted to close the match,” Weir said.
“We knew we had a chance coming into this match, and we came out with not a ton of confidence early. And then, we started realizing if we just put a little more effort into this we could have it. We started hustling more and celebrating more and then we were on fire.”
Although the Warriors led for large chunks of the final three sets, they certainly had to work for victory. In set four, James Wood jumped out to an 8-3 advantage, before Sherando rallied behind three Weir kills to go up 13-11.
Five James Wood errors helped Sherando extend the lead to 20-15, but the Colonels cut the deficit to 21-20 thanks in part to two of its 21 aces on the night.
A Colonels error and ace from Weir made it 23-20, before Curtis followed another James Wood mistake by tipping the ball over the net to tie the match 2-2.
Ashby said he challenged his players to be more aggressive after the Warriors spent time “waiting for James Wood’s attack” in the first two sets, and said he was proud of the response.
“We were really trying to impress the aggressiveness,” Ashby said. “Our team, I just feel we have a ton of athletes. We’re always touching the ball; it’s difficult to get the ball down on us sometimes, but we had to keep going. We just had to be aggressive with that approach. And I think they just wanted it, too. I think there was a little bit of momentum.”
Sensing its opportunity, Sherando remained determined in the fifth set, getting out to a 7-2 lead thanks in part to a block from Curtis and kills from Emma Scruggs and Riley Alger.
After James Wood made it 7-4, Weir and Bower traded kills to move the score to 9-6, Warriors.
Two points from Wilhelm and another from Reese Justice helped James Wood draw close at 11-9, but Zimmerman located the ball in front of the net and set up Curtis for an emphatic spike to make it 12-9.
Two errors spotted Sherando two more points before Weir answered a James Wood attack with a hard-hit final blow.
Sherando’s strong third set the comeback in motion. The Warriors tied it 5-5 with an ace from Cami Golliday before Weir added three kills and an ace to make it 13-8, Sherando.
Curtis and Weir later scored consecutive kills to extend the lead to 19-12, bringing about a James Wood timeout.
A kill by Bower and an ace from Wilhelm forced Sherando to call time leading 20-17, before Zimmerman found Hannah Beck near the left pin for a kill.
Bower cut the lead to two, but Scruggs blocked the Colonels at the net to make it 23-20. Curtis tapped the ball with one hand for a point after it ricocheted at her off a one-handed Wilhelm dig, and she wrapped up the set with a block at the net.
Curtis said it felt great to hit again after being limited to six sets in the first seven matches. She added her impressive play comes from self-belief.
“I just tell myself I can really do anything as long as I believe I can do it,” Curtis said. “I just tell myself to play my hardest no matter what, even if my team’s down.”
James Wood was in steady command during the match’s first two sets.
The Colonels led 11-3 in set one after three early kills from Wilhelm, two more from Bower, a dump from Plumb and an ace by Hewitt.
Kyleigh Bly then engineered a 5-0 service run that featured two aces to move the lead to 20-7. Curtis and Alger helped cut the deficit to 22-14, but an error, a Bower kill and a Wilhelm ace closed out the first frame.
James Wood head coach Joey Young said he thought the Colonels did a good job setting up Wilhelm and Bower in the early going and that the duo hasn’t backed down from increased offensive responsibilities this season.
“I thought that [Wilhelm and Bower] have embraced their roles wholeheartedly,” Young said. “They’ve really been great leaders in the gym. We lean on them very heavily in matches like this, and they’re well prepared, both from a skill standpoint and from a mental standpoint, to kind of carry that load. I’ve been very happy with everything that they’ve done.”
James Wood’s serving reached a high point in the second set, as it tallied seven aces across that span.
With the set tied, Sophia Rodeffer recorded back-to-back clean serves to make it 8-6.
Bower recorded two consecutive kills to extend the lead to 10-7 before recording three aces in a row to help move the lead to 14-7.
After two kills by Wilhelm, one by Bower and an error made it 20-9, Sherando called time. Curtis scored two straight points to cut the deficit to single digits, but James Wood followed a Sherando error with a Justice block and two Wilhelm aces to go ahead 2-0.
Young said James Wood served well early, and thought Sherando’s switch to having five hitters and one setter on the floor in later sets helped it turn the tide.
“We really, really served tough in those [first] two sets, and we got [Sherando] in some compromised situations,” Young said. “Coach Ashby made some adjustments over there, and we really couldn’t find ourselves in the same situations with our serve again. They kind of found a rhythm and consistency with each other.”
Ashby said he’s glad his team ended its winning drought against James Wood, noting that any win over a tough local rival is a good sign.
“We didn’t play our best against Handley, so to be able to come back and take one more from our district rivals, that’s always a plus,” Ashby said. “I still say, and I think tonight’s a perfect example: us, James Wood, Handley and Millbrook, everyone has to be on when we’re playing each other. It’s nice to get a victory for the girls, just to say, ‘Okay, we did it. We fought hard and it paid off.'”
— Contact Joe Tuman at jtuman@winchesterstar.com