The PA Boys Volleyball team started off their season well with a 3-2 win against a very strong Choate team and followed with a 3-1 win against Central Catholic JV. Andover’s match with Choate was a back and forth battle. Andover’s hard hitting offense was lead by Co-Captain Howie Kalter ’07 with 21 kills. Co-Captain Alex Schwartz ’07, Ekow Essel ’07, and Jonathan Lee ’07 followed Kalter with 11, nine, and nine kills respectively. Peter Yao ’07 effectively created most of the offensive opportunities. He totaled an exceptional 49 assists, driving the Big Blue offense. Andover’s first game in the match was close until the end. The lead was transferred evenly between the two teams until the score was tied at 16-16. Andover then began to rally. Lee, who recorded an impressive 3 aces in the entire match, served remarkably and gave Andover a 25-19 cushion. Choate never backed down and continued to score points, but Andover closed out the game 30-24. Co-Captain Schwartz said, “Choate was a strong team and never gave up. It was our focus that [led us] to win the game. There were some moments where they came up with some incredible saves, but we always kept coming back.” The second game had the same back-and-forth play as the first. Andover went ahead 24-17 when Choate rallied with exceptional serves to go ahead 27-25. Lee once again came up big and in the clutch, serving out the game to a 31-29 victory. Still refusing to go down without a fight, Choate came back strong to win the next two games. Andover continued to fight but fell 19-30 and 20-30 which forced a fifth game in the match. Lee said, “Choate had a lot of serves in the fourth game that caused a seven point lead that we couldn’t make up for.” Andover started out the fifth game with a strong 5-1 lead created by the serving of James McGuiness ’08. Choate continued to challenge Andover and tied up the game at 13-13. Wesley Mui ’06 was able to serve out the rest of the game giving Andover a 15-13 win and the overall match victory. Lee commented, “The fifth game was really intense and we just fought through it.” Ultimately Andover’s win relied on a strong defense and consistent serves. Essel, who played a major role defensively, recorded 10 stuffs and 18 blocks. Andrew Park ’06 also contributed five stuffs to the match.
