Andover extended its winning record this week to 11-1 with blowout wins against Lawrence Academy and Worcester. Andover dominated in the opening set against Lawrence Academy, taking an immediate ten-point lead on hard-hit and well-placed serves from setter Chelsea Ward ’12. Making few errors, the team coasted to a 25-11 victory almost entirely on service points. Set two saw a change in the lineup but Andover continued its aggressive play. After multiple long service runs by Ward and Co-Captain Kemi Amurawaiye ’11, Andover claimed a huge advantage over the other team and ended the set with a decisive score of 25-9. During the last set, the team’s concentration slipped away, allowing Lawrence Academy to take the lead, but with the score tied at nineteen all, Andover finally regained focus and pulled out a nail-biting 25-20 victory. In the brief match, Zoe Roschach ’12 earned 5 kills. Amurawaiye cranked out three kills and three stuff blocks, shutting down Lawrence’s offense. Her serving runs also earned her three aces. A force both at the service line and on defense, middle blocker Lucia McGloin ’13 served seven balls, including three aces, and dug an astounding eighteen balls. On Wednesday, Andover rolled past Worcester in front of a home crowd. The opening set started off slow, with multiple service errors by Andover. The score remained tight Andover broke away with the score tied at 15. At the tail end of the game, Andover added in various quick plays to mix up the offense and then finished the game 25-17. Shenk said, “Running coordinated offensive plays can be tricky because the timing needs to be perfect in order for them to work, but I’m glad we got the chance to integrate them into the game. We’ll need to be comfortable running different plays to be successful this weekend against Exeter and in the playoffs next week.” In the next set, Andover stepped up their game and took a large lead almost immediately. With a few quick substitutions, the team got to more balls on defense and hit even more aggressively on offense. Andover pushed to end the game 25-10. Amurawiaye said, “Looking forward to Andover/Exeter and beyond, we’ll need to work on keeping the energy up and reducing errors.” In the third match, Andover’s momentum continued to swell as they claimed the lead early on. Although the team lost focus for a few moments at match point, they pulled together to close out the game 25-11. Shenk and Roschach led the offense with eight kills each. Ward earned fifteen assists and setter Shelby Carpenter ’12 put up another nine assists. Serving without making a service error, Shenk stalled the Lawrence’s defense with seven aces. Like her co-captain, Amurawaiye also racked up seven aces. This weekend Andover looks forward to hosting Exeter for their biggest and final match of the regular season.
