Andover and Taft had more to lose than just a game last Saturday. Their undefeated titles were at stake. But Andover thrived under pressure, defeating the Taft squad 2-1. In addition to playing Taft last Saturday, Andover also competed against Northfield Mount Hermon. The 2-0 win over NMH plus the victory over Taft improved Andover’s record to 4-0. Meghan McCafferty ’10 played both sets and led the team with a grand total of five kills. In the first set, Caroline Gattuso ’09 scored six out of seven service returns, the most returns of the match. In set two, Jamie Shenk ’12 scored three aces on serves. McCafferty scored the most service points. The final score was 25-20 for set one, and 25-8 for set two. In the game against Taft, Andover took an early lead of 2-4 during set one. Spectacular service by Cristina Mommsen ’09, however, brought Andover back into contention at 7-4. Andover never fell behind again. In the words of Coach Clyfe Beckwith, the game was a surefire win, with Shenk “pounding a nail in their coffin” with six aces, powering the team to victory. The final score was 25-14. Set two proved to be tougher for Andover. The squad committed 11 hitting errors and three service errors. After a tie at 2-2, Taft pulled into the lead at 10-5. Andover, however, fought long and hard, managing to tie the score after Melissa Yan ’10 and Mommsen served three aces each. At one point, Andover had the lead at 13-12. The score flipped flopped back and forth and tied at 14, 15 and 16 points, but Taft pulled ahead to win the set, 19-25. Set three completely belonged to Andover. McCafferty served five unanswered points for a solid 5-0 lead. After switching sides of the court at 8-4, Yan served one point. Mommsen and Captain Isabelle Engelsted ’09 each served two points. The Taft match was a battle, but as Engelsted said, “We were able to swing the momentum back on our side and win the third game. We pushed hard to win the final game and it paid off.” After a side-out rally-scored point, Andover emerged the victor with a 15-6 win. This Saturday the team travels to Connecticut to face Choate Rosemary Hall, another perennially tough opponent.
