Down 1-0 against Loomis Chaffee, Sascha Evans ’21 hit a line shot past the block, tying the game for Andover Girls Volleyball. Andover eventually emerged victorious over the defending league champions 3-1 this past Saturday.
According to Brooklyn Wirt ’21, Loomis’s unique playing style posed a challenge for Andover.
“They play more traditional volleyball than a lot of other teams. They know what they’re doing; they’re very intentional with things,” said Wirt. “You can tell that they know what they’re doing and they know where they want to put the ball.”
According to Ridley Warner ’22 and Wirt, Andover gained a lot of confidence through mounting a comeback to defeat a strong opponent.
Warner said, “The energy was kind of low at the start when we lost [the first set], but then we pumped it up and were able to come back and win… Loomis has a good reputation for volleyball, and it gave us a confidence boost to win. So we can take on the rest of the season with new confidence and assurance that we can win.”
Wirt added, “I think it was a good game and I think that we were all really excited and willing to play hard because we knew that they were a good team.”
Andover added a win against Noble and Greenough on Wednesday, moving the team’s record to 6-0.
“[Nobles] wasn’t the strongest and we kind of knew that going into it. so I think we were really focused on working on the little things, staying confident, playing at our level,” said Wirt. “I think that when we play teams that we don’t consider as strong of competitors we tend to not play as hard because we know we’re going to beat them. And that’s an unhealthy mindset that we have that we’re working on right now,” said Wirt.
Mudmee Sereeyothin ’20 added, “Our team has been focusing on improving our defense, specifically our serve-receive. I think this is something that we have to continue working on, but I thought there was good improvement during our game against Nobles today.”
Andover has outscored its opponents 18-3 in its six matches this season. According to Warner, the team is still looking to get better and become closer as the season goes along.
“Right now everyone is becoming more comfortable helping out other players on the team, and we are gaining more trust in each other as we build team chemistry,” said Warner.
Andover hopes to continue its undefeated season against Tabor this Saturday.
Editor’s Note: Brooklyn Wirt is an Associate Digital Editor for The Phillipian.
