By Dennis Atwood — Daily Sports Correspondent

QUICKSBURG — James Wood dominated from start to finish Friday night in a 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 25-6) win over Stonewall Jackson in nondistrict volleyball action.

"I am very pleased with the way we're starting off our season," James Wood coach Jill Lester said. "I gave the team a challenge of every serve jump serving and they were really up to it, scoring 75 points and only missing three serves.

"We had pretty good communication, but we're running some new plays and we're still trying to work out the glitches there."

The match opened with the General's junior setter/outside hitter Nadene Pence gaining a service point on a hit out. Then, in what proved to be a precursor for the remainder of the evening, the Colonels ripped off six straight points on junior setter Cady Schaffer's serves, including a service ace and a kill by sophomore middle blocker Hannah Tierney.

At 10-4, James Wood then gained five straight points with Tierney serving. Sinking behind 20-5, the Generals crept back in on four consecutive errors by the Colonels to reach 20-9.

The Colonels then did an about-face with three consecutive kills, followed by an ace by sophomore outside hitter Emily Shannon to regain dominance at 24-9. The game winner came on a Generals' error.

The Colonels controlled the high ground from the beginning of the second game, burying the Generals under nine consecutive points. Shaffer started it off with an ace. The streak included two kills by senior setter and co-captain Sara Michael and another kill by Shannon.

"We're all learning how to work well together. We all depend on each other," Michael said. "We try to spread out evenly across the front line and execute our hits based on what the setter chooses."

"My set-ups depend on where my teammates are positioned," said James Wood's Chelsea Wingfield, who had nine digs. "I go off the block mainly, then I set up where I anticipate they're going to hit it. It's best if I am straight-on to the ball."

James Wood again displayed precision and strength at 11-2 with a kill by Tierney and two consecutive service aces by senior defensive specialist April Salyer. At 14-2, there were consecutive kills by Shannon, sophomore hitter Megan Crabtree, and Tierney.

After the Colonels scored their 24th point, the Generals managed a brief streak of success on three James Wood errors, a kill by middle hitter junior Heather Stout, an ace by Lindsey Hoover to reach 24-15. Then Stonewall Jackson gave James Wood the game winner on an error.

In the concluding game, the Generals couldn't muster more than two points in a row at any point in the game. At 17-9, James Wood slammed the door on the Generals by finishing the game, and the match, with an eight-point streak which included two more kills by Michael and one by junior Heather Armel, and an ace by junior setter Carly Mullin.

"We were working on a different phase of our offense tonight," Stonewall Jackson coach Sophie Stout said. "We're trying to see where we're going to position people and get that worked out before district play begins."

The Generals had a much tougher task against AA level James Wood than they faced in their sweep of Clarke County on Tuesday.

"James Wood is a powerhouse. Many of their girls play year-round," Stout said. "We came out flat in the first game and didn't pass well. We didn't get sets to the net. Not being able to get our power to the net caused us to lose momentum and we never regained it."