Despite injuries, Girls’ Volleyball powered past Loomis Chaffee and dominated St. Paul’s to kick off their season at an undefeated 2-0. The match against Loomis started out relatively close. While the Lady Blue made strong serves, Loomis responded with good, quick defense. Then, in the first game, disaster struck. Co-captain Devon Dickerson ’04, the number one setter on the team, collided with another member of the squad. The collision left Dickerson with a bruised knee and on the bench. Dickerson’s injury sent waves of terror through the rest of team. As Cassie Tognoni ’05 said, “She is the backbone of our team as setter.” Left without one of their best players, the rest of the team rose to the occasion and powered ahead. Megan Winn ’05 took over Dickerson’s position to great success, with eight aces and two kills during the match. She was helped out by Lauren Cantwell ’05, who served five aces in the first game alone. According to Cantwell, Winn “stepped up to fill the position beautifully.” Jess Daigneault ’04 ended the game with three kills. The girls won the game with a score of 30-24. After this win, the team was on a roll. They dominated Loomis in the second game, winning 30-19. The trainer deemed Dickerson fighting-fit for the third game, much to the relief of her teammates. The girls slammed past Loomis 30-21 in the third game, recording another win. “The only real weak spot for the team tends to be our defense, which often results in some difficulty running the plays we would like, but that is slowly improving,” said Cantwell. On Wednesday, the squad headed up north to Concord, NH to face off against perennial rival St. Paul’s. The SPS Pelicans did not have a chance. The Lady Blue ran away with the game. They won the match 3-0, and won the games 30-18, 30-14, and 30-15. All of the players on the team did well, as the team recorded thirty-three kills and twenty-two serving aces. Co-captain Mimi Hanley ’04 had a solid game with three aces and nine kills. Tognoni starred, as she recorded one ace and four kills. Tognoni is optimistic about the season, saying “We haven’t lost a set yet, and none of the games have been really close.” “Particularly impressive was Devon’s performance in 14 successful serves of 14 attempts and 5 kills in 5 attempts to hit,” said head coach Clyfe Beckwith of one of his co-captains. With Dickerson seemingly healed, it is full steam ahead to the championship for the girls. “I look forward to improving even more as a team throughout the season” said Dickerson, “The first set of games really showed us that we can win this year if we don’t let up in any way,” Perhaps the best summation of the team is Tognoni’s. “We’re basically just really kinda nasty.”