Coming off last week’s straight set loss to Andover High School, PA volleyball looked to improve and shape its team in its final scrimmage against a strong Central Catholic team, but fell short 0-3 again. Andover started the match strong, as the team’s defense exhibited more passing control than in their loss to Andover High last week. Captain Peter Bang ’11 said, “The team was a lot more comfortable on the court compared to last week’s game.” “Our passing in this game improved drastically, so we were able to get a lot of hits. Although we lost 3-0, the games were close, and the team showed once again that it is full of potential,” continued Bang Jimmy Philps ’12 added, “Even though we did leave with a loss, we made improvement in areas we wanted to improve in and the scores of each set reflected our improvement from our game against AHS.” Coach Beckwith said “Considering that the team has been together for just over two weeks, they played extremely well against Central Catholic.” The young team is still forming their core starting squad. Philps said, “A lot of us are still learning the rotations, and we need to work on helping each other fill holes on the court.” Bang, newcomer Vidush Mahansaria ’12 and Haonan Li ’13 alternated at outside hitter, while veterans Thurston Smalley ’11 and Tommy Kramer ’11 alternated at right side hitter. Marcus Smith ’12, Hayato Lee ’12, Philps and Mahansaria took turns at the net as middle hitters, while Ji Tae Park ’14 and Kade Call ’14 anchored the team in defense. Although the team’s defensive positioning to defend Central Catholic’s attack was a little inconsistent on the day, Andover improved fundamentally, and will be poised for big wins in the future with more experience and more consistent serving. “We still need to work on a lot of things, especially passing and blocking. Although our passing did improve dramatically, there is still much more room for improvement,” said Bang. Philps noted, “This was definitely an improvement over our first game, with more work on passing and experience we will be very competitive in the future.” Andover Boys Volleyball will travel to Northfield Mount Hermon this weekend to compete against a highly experienced team in their first league match of the 2011 season.