10/10 – Andover: 3, Choate: 2
10/14 – Andover: 3, Austin Prep: 0
Girls Volleyball (6–4) rallied past Choate 3–2 on the road on Saturday, winning the final two sets after trailing 1–2. Coming off of a tough loss against BB&N last week, the team adjusted its mentality to beat Choate. It followed this dominant performance with a consecutive victory against Austin Preparatory School (Austin Prep), fending off its opponent 3–0 on Wednesday.
The team remained aware that it needed a shift in energy in order to overcome its opponent. Zoë Gilbertson ’27 highlighted how the surge of energy and shared accountability factored into its overall success of the game.
“In our heads, we need to have the mindset that everyone has every ball. We had the mindset going into Choate, that no ball’s going to hit the floor. Every ball is going to be picked up by someone on the floor. And by everyone having that mentality, we just were able to cover so much more ground and play a lot more aggressively,” said Gilbertson.
Adapting to Choate’s style of play in the second set, Gilbertson credited one of her teammates in being able to identify these patterns as the match progressed.
“Going into the second set, we kind of realized, okay, we know how they play. I think the person that brought that shift was Kailynn [Zheng PG’27]… She picks up on the patterns of where their defense is sitting or where they swing, or where they put the balls when they’re attacking, and by picking up on that, she was able to communicate that to the rest of the team,” said Gilbertson.
Not only did Andover demonstrate a winner mentality, but it also showed a high level of court awareness and flexibility. This allowed the team to adapt to various situations better than its opponent, according to Lexi Arias ’28.
“We really adjusted well throughout, so we knew that if one hitter was stronger, we knew where they were going. We would just adjust our defense, or our block would adjust. In the huddle, we were just really attentive during the game, so we were just quick to change anything we needed to change, which Choate couldn’t do,” said Arias.
In preparation for Choate, the team’s practice focused on adjusting its mindset rather than specific drills. Gilbertson described the energy the team looked to bring after the loss to BB&N.
“The skill that we talked most about was actually not something that we were doing on the court, but it was mostly our mentality going into the match. We were coming off a loss to BB&N, [which is] also a pretty strong team. It’s not that we played poorly, but there was a lack of energy on the court, and we needed that energy shift to gain momentum into big points. So going into Choate, we didn’t come this far just to come this far. We all really wanted it,” said Gilbertson.
The team carried on its momentum to its next game. Elsa Wang ’30 elaborated on Andover’s preparation through specific drills to attack Austin Prep’s defense.
“In this game, we were focused on defense and attacking more. Last year, they had really good defense, so we had to work on our attacking more as well. We did a box drill. You have to get an out of system set, and you have to hit it to a specific spot that’s not the middle of the court, so the libero won’t get it, and you have a deep corner and stuff, so it’s a harder spot to get,” said Wang.
Andover led the third set 8–0 before Austin Prep tied it at 24–24 and again at 25–25. Co-Captain Selene Xu ’27 ended the match with an ace for a 27–25 win in the final set. Wang described how the finish felt and the support from the team.
“It ended really quickly and we just all felt really happy about it. We had really great team spirit in this game, and [Head Coach Brendan Mackinson] also [substituted] in some of the bench players as well,” said Wang.
Girls Volleyball will host St. Paul’s on Friday.
