Behind the spectacular play of Cristina Mommsen, who provided 17 kills, six aces, and five saves, Andover defeated Loomis 3-1 in its official season opener. During set one, the score became locked up in a tie four times. At 12-12, however, upper Meghan McCafferty ’10 broke the deadlock with a magnificent six-point serving streak. This gave Andover a boost and a sufficient lead to win the first game in only one and a half rotations. The final score was 25-16. Set two saw brilliant serving by Melissa Yan ’10, contributing to the score with 4 service points. Mommsen also had excellent service, scoring 5 points. Andover won game two, 25-16. Loomis came back during game three. This set proved to be the toughest game of all for Andover. Four Loomis servers served three points each, while Andover scored 11 of its 17 points only on side-outs. Loomis took the third game, 17-25. Determined to win the fourth game, Andover earned fifteen points on serves. Yan, Mommsen, and Jamie Shenk ’12 all had impressive service. Andover locked up the match, winning game four, 25-21. In addition to Mommsen’s excellent record, Yan had a total of 32 assists as a setter. Captain Isabelle Engelsted ’09 logged nine kills, two aces, and four saves. In addition, McCafferty blocked four for four and had five kills. Katy Svec ’10 recorded two saves, while PG Caroline Gattuso ’09 had four saves. The two girls shared the libero position as defensive specialists, protecting the team’s side of the court with an unyielding defense. This Wednesday, Andover hosted St. Paul’s. Even though the minutes were not exactly equal, all thirteen members of the team got playing time in this match. The team easily triumphed over its opponent, improving its official season record to 2-0 with a final score of 3-0. Set one began in a heated exchange of possession of the ball as the teams traded the lead until the score was 10-8. With a side-out point and two ferocious serves by Captain Engelsted, Andover took a 13-10 lead. Mommsen served two more points, followed by McCafferty, who seamlessly scored seven points in a row off of her serve. Andover won skillfully with a score of 25-11. The team switched up its rotation for game 2, pulling out starters Captain Engelsted and Mommsen to give them a rest. Viola Rothschild ’10 played outside hitter instead of her usual position as a middle hitter. Kemi Amurawaiye ’11 and Caroline Colombo ’09 were also added into this rotation. All three girls displayed dazzling play at the net. Svec, Gattuso, and Steph Xu ’09 added solid defense. Andover took game two, 25-19. Andover dominated game three to secure the match. The team took a colossal twelve-point lead at 15-3. Although St. Paul’s scored four points in a row off of serves, Andover cruised to a 25-14 win. McCafferty was the MVP of the day, leading the team with 6 kills, 5 aces, serving 22 for 23, and blocking 3 for 3. Captain Engelsted scored 5 kills on 14 out of 15 successful hits. Shenk scored 5 kills on 16 out of 18 successful hits. Lastly, Mommsen had 13 defensive saves and 4 kills. The team travels to NMH next Saturday for a double-header against NMH and undefeated Taft.
