Ben Meyer ’18 (left) and Neil Simpson ’19 (right) go up for a block.
Andover Boys Volleyball fought one of its closest matches of the season, winning in five sets. Both the very long ride to Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) and the opponent’s home court advantage challenged Andover, according to Clay Briggs ’19. Andover’s record now stands at 3-2.
Briggs said, “Now, I do say that the game was pretty tough, but the true feat was, and I stress this, climbing up Mount Hermon. Our poor playing today was emphasized by the fact that one side of the court was actually lower than the other, since they poorly built the gym on the slopes of Mount Hermon.”
In the fourth set, NMH came back from a deficit to win the set in 26-28, leading into a fifth set. In the final set, Andover defended four match points before finally taking the advantage. With a technical foul in favor of Andover, it was able to win the fifth set with a final score of 23-21.
Andover went into the game with a specific philosophy in mind: to win each point one by one, and focusing throughout the game, not just on the end goal but on the entire game.
“It’s not about how fast we get there, it doesn’t matter what’s on the other side; it’s the climb up Mount Hermon. In the end, we won, but it was the climb up Mount Hermon that mattered,” said Assamongkol.
Even though the team has several players out for injury, Andover kept a high moral throughout the game without letting the pressure affect them. Because of such a tight score, many players were very nervous in crucial points, according to Assamongkol.
“There were some points when my faith was shaking, but we had to keep trying, keeping our head held high,” said Assamongkol. Andover utilized several special plays to help them overcome its challenges, according to Assamongkol. “We have one play called ‘The Ladder,’ which was instrumental in helping us climb over NMH’s defenses,” said Assamongkol.
Even though the game was very stressful for many players, Andover was able to keep a positive energy and attitude throughout the game.
Andover will play Choate on Saturday for the second time this season, hoping to continue its commanding 3-0 victory
