Andover Girls Volleyball utilized its serving prowess and Senior leadership in two consecutive victories over Loomis Chaffee and Andover High this week.
In the first match against Loomis, Olivia Bren ’13 snagged four consecutive service points after Andover fell out to a 0-2 start. Lucia McGloin ’13 then delivered seven aces and Annette Bell ’16 another two, giving Andover the immediate advantage.
“I think the biggest strength of the team right now is that we’ve been serving tough,” said Captain Alexi Bell ’13. “A lot of time our comebacks come from our players who serve really well, and that puts us back on top and the other team on defense.”
Andover went on to beat Loomis 25-23, 26-17, 25-15.
In the Wednesday scrimmage against Andover High, Andover got down early but managed to come away with a 3-2 victory after a clutch final two sets.
Andover took the first set 25-23, but Andover High responded by taking the next two sets 23-25, 16-25.
However, as in previous victories, Andover managed to come from behind, finally securing the win with a decisive lead in the fifth set.
“We are definitely a comeback team,” Bell said. “When we are down by a lot of points, I’m not really concerned about whether or not we can come back, because I know we definitely can. We have multiple times already this season, and we have been successful.”
Despite its history of comeback wins, the team wants to work on avoiding being in that situation in the future.
“Once we get on a roll, it’s hard to stop and we keep going, that’s probably the biggest factor in us making our comebacks. But our biggest issue is when we make a couple of errors, and then we end up making a string of errors. It’s really a mental game in a lot of ways,” said Bell.
Undefeated so far, Girls Volleyball continues to prove itself early in the season. The close-knit bond between teammates and the resulting communication has proven essential to the success of team.
“Our team is really close, we’re all friends, so we know how each other are. We’re learning how to play with each other and keeping that habit,” said Veronica Hildenbrand ’14. “We make sure we’re talking to each other, calling if it’s in or out and encouraging each other, which really helps.”
“The connection we’ve made with our setters is really good,” said Alex Becker ’15. “They’ve been really good about making sure that we can hit every single ball really hard and put it into the court. We’re working really well.”
“Having more playing time is helping us play more cohesively. When you’re not used to someone’s playing style, you can mess up a lot easier,” said Isabel Taylor ’15.
Andover Girls Volleyball looks forward to two more home games this week against St. Paul’s and Northfield Mount Hermon.
