The Andover volleyball team traveled to Northfield, Mass. to end its first month of the season with two decisive victories over Northfield Mount Hermon and the Taft School. The team is now undefeated and untied, with a record of 4-0-0. The girls arrived with less than 45 minutes before the first game and started slowly in the first game against NMH, but eventually won at the very end, coming back from 28-29 to snatch the match from NMH’s grasp by a score of 30-29. By the second game, Andover had successfully demoralized NMH, as the team captured a decisive 30-14 victory. Even with Atima Lui ‘08, Dawson Joyce-Mendive ‘07, and Michelle Hollebeke ‘08 injured, the team’s record for this game was still outstanding. Captain Cassidy Carpenter ‘08 recorded nine assists, three aces, and had an immaculate 12 for 12 serving record. Sarah Beattie ‘07 and Lindsay Maroney ‘07 were the killer queens during this game, with four kills each and hitting records of 6 for 9 and 7 for 7. Erica Bakies ‘08 and Pia Heilmann ‘07 started instead of two injured regulars, and Andover experienced no drop-off in performance as Bakies compiled a perfect 6 for 6 serving record and Heilmann was 14 for 16 serving. Isabelle Engelsted ‘07 served 11 for 12. Melissa Yan ‘10 starred for Andover with amazing defensive play. Taft didn’t have much of a chance going against the Big Blue following the NMH game. Andover won the first game easily, 30-12. In the second game, Andover had to come from behind to win 30-21, after trailing 17-12. Bakies and Engelsted had four and 11 unanswered serves, respectively, which cost Taft dearly. Engelsted went on to serve 23 for 23. Captain Carpenter was, yet again, the main assister with a grand total of 17. She also made two stuffs and served 7 for 8. Maroney made three aces wild, served 8 for 9, and made three stuffs. Heilmann made five kills this game and hit 11 for 12 but did not serve as well, with only two successful shots out of five. Beattie hit 8 for 9 and served 3 for 4, and Lauren Shevlin ‘08 had one kill and hit one for one. On Wednesday, Andover defeated North Reading High School three games to none. Big Blue’s opponent became gradually more tired with game scores of 30-23, 30-22, and 30-18. In this game, Carpenter dished out 14 assists and pulled out an impossible five aces from her sleeve. She also served 13 for 15. Beattie let few shots into Andover territory, stuffing fourteen and blocking seven for nine. Englested served 15 for 17, six of which were aces, and made four kills. Bakies served six for eight, hit 11 for 16, and killed one shot. Heilmann served 10 for 12 and made two aces.
