WILSON EXTRA: A somber win

FISHERSVILLE — There was no celebrating or laughter, just 10 Wilson players walking to the locker room with their heads hung low, not even hinting that they had just advanced to the Group A semifinals.

The Green Hornets made not-so-easy work of Northumberland on Tuesday night in the state quarterfinals, winning 25-16, 25-19 and 25-20 and earning a rematch with Strasburg in Richmond for a chance to appear in the Group A finals.

“I’m not happy with this win,” said Wilson’s Noël Bartley. “We did not play our best. We did not look like we could be champions at all. We won and it’s great and I’m so excited about playing Friday, but I’m not happy with how we played.”

Glimmers of the Wilson that started the season showed through Tuesday.

“… [K]nowing how we have been playing so well lately, we went in with a big head, but I think this was a learning experience,” said the Green Hornets’ Kala Guy.

Despite struggling in Games 2 and 3, Wilson jumped to an early start during the first game taking a 10-1 lead. The Indians struggled for most of the night with Guy’s power attack.

“I think at the beginning [Guy] came out really strong and intimidated us a little bit,” said Northumberland coach Bonnie Swann. “It took them a while to defend her. In the second and third game I moved my defense around to be in front of her and try to keep her from making an impact.”

Northumberland also began to go away from its attack at the net and focused more on misdirection.

“We were trying to find their holes and not hit it in their hands,” Swann said.

After the changes the Indians began to fight their way back into the first game, going on several short rallies helped by Wilson errors.  But the Green Hornets’ lead was too great and Wilson took the game 25-16.

Wilson looked to be back to its Game 2 blues after a Diane Kelly ace and an errant Guy attack put Northumberland up 4-1. Diane Kelly hit her next serve out and her sister, Sarah Kelly, hit the ball twice to put Wilson within one point. Tiffany Crosby nailed a kill to knot the game.

Crosby negated her point however, hitting her next attack out, and Guy hit one out as well to give the advantage back to Northumberland.

“I honestly believe they started to play down to the other team’s level,” said Wilson coach Kim Claytor. “I think this brought them back down to earth a little bit.”

The Indians remained in control until Wilson’s gears started moving again. A 10-1 run, aided by four Guy kills and two aces from Julia Aronson stopped the Indians in their tracks.

Wilson put the game away with a Crosby ace and a Noël Bartley kill to win 25-19.

In matches past, Wilson has blown out the third game after faltering in Game 2, but the Indians continued to challenge. A Diane Kelly ace gave Northumberland a 3-1 lead and several key Wilson mistakes kept it that way.

The Green Hornets tied the game at 19 and traded point for point with the Indians until Bartley sailed a kill past the backline. Guy followed it up with another kill and the Indians committed three errors to give Wilson a 24-20 advantage. A Indian serve sailed out-of-bound to end the match and send Wilson to Richmond.

On Friday the Green Hornets will take on Strasburg in a rematch of the Region B championship match. Wilson swept Strasburg to earn the first-round home match. The Rams swept Region A champion Matthews to advance.

“I’m sure they [Strasburg] want to kick our butts, but I’m excited,” Bartley said. “Those games were close, but I want to make them not so close.”