After going down 1-2 against Northfield Mount Hermon on Saturday, Andover Boys Volleyball rallied and won the next two sets with scores of 25-11 and 15-7. Andover won 3-2 to cap off a successful week, after defeating Choate 3-2 on the previous Saturday and Beaver Country Day 3-1 on Wednesday.
Foreshadowing its game against NMH, Andover initially was down 1-2 against Choate, but maintained its focus and stuck to its gameplan, according to Colin McNamara-Bordewick ’21.
“I think that our mentality was the key to winning. I think when worst came to worst when we were down in the dumps, during the third, fourth, and fifth sets we fed the ball to those people who were hitting the nastiest spikes and slams,” said McNamara-Bordewick.
According to Kike Chamon ’21, Andover was able to pull ahead early and get everyone in the game against Beaver.
“In the first set, our starting varsity guys got off to a great start so we got a chance to put in some bench and JV players for the other sets. Overall we were mentally there, but we definitely could’ve worked on our serving,” said Chamon.
Against NMH on Saturday, Andover began with low energy, something the team has struggled with consistently at away games, according to Co-Captain Clayson Briggs ’19.
“This season, we haven’t really traveled very well. I don’t know whether it was the bus ride or the climb into their gym but either way, we didn’t come out of the gates firing and we started off pretty slow,” said Briggs.
“We lost the first set which was a result of pretty poor play. But in the second set, it was pretty close and we won that one. After the third set, which we lost, we woke up and won the remaining two sets pretty handily. We were pretty happy with our play at the end, but I think that we need to work on getting out and ready quickly,” Briggs continued.
On Wednesday, Andover lost 0-3 to Phillips Exeter Academy, bringing its current record to 6-2-1.
According to McNamara-Bordewick, the team was unable to execute and, ultimately, recover from a first set loss.
“I think that because it was an away game, it was a little bit harder. We haven’t played as well away this season. But I think that we really rallied by the end. Our first set wasn’t pretty but our second and third sets we started getting it,” said McNamara-Bordewick.
Briggs added, “At the end of the first set, it was a big score to a little score. In the second set, we started coming back and in the third set, we got really close. The final score ended up being 27-29. We had a few chances to win but we couldn’t execute.”
Andover will face Wilbraham & Monson away on Saturday.
