In an exciting come-from-behind contest against Exeter on Saturday, the Andover Volleyball Team defeated the Big Red. The final scores for each match were 26-30, 23-30, 30-12, 30-22 and 15-6. Expecting little defense, Andover did not start the match with very much intensity. The Blue made five serving errors and seven hitting errors; the Big Red capitalized on Andover’s poor performance and easily took the win. In the second game, Andover fell behind early, still struggling to regain its momentum after the upset in the first game. With the Big Blue losing 17-29, Jackie Price ’06 preformed a string of six successful serves to bring Andover back to a more respectable score. However, she was not able to reverse the large point deficit and Exeter took a 2-0 lead. In the third game, Coach Beckwith made a decision to switch offensive strategies. His strategy proved to be a success as the Blue stole control from Exeter and completely turned its play around. The Big Blue took the third game in a 30 -12 victory. In both of games four and five, Andover easily defeated the Big Red. Beckwith said, “We should have played Andover and Exeter games as best of one, because statistics over the last seven years will show that Andover and Exeter will very likely go until the fifth game. Yes, it was exciting for the alumni, parents, students and faculty alike, but as a coach of the game I would rather see less excitement.” Coach Beckwith also said, “The crowd was a huge factor in keeping the players focused, and after an hour and-a-half of battle both teams looked exhausted, but kept coming up with spectacular saves and whopping hits.” Captains Lauren Cantwell ’05 and Cassie Tognoni ’05 each made 12 kills in their last regular season games. Senior Megan Winn ’05 made 25 assists and served 17 out of 18 balls successfully. Claire Fox ’06 had 10 stuffs out of 13 blocks for a season best, and Price served four aces on 24 out of 25 attempted serves.
