Saraya Angbazo ’25 and Co-Captain Drew Nelson ’24 go up for a block.
Kate Rodgers ’26 serves the ball.
Girls Volleyball lost all three sets on Saturday to Loomis Chaffee (Loomis), who took second place in the 2022-23 New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Girls Volleyball Class A Championships. On Wednesday however, the team regained its footing and took the victory over Groton with a score of 3-0.
During the game against Loomis, Haley Piasecki ʼ26 applauded the Co-Captains’ abilities to stay motivated during tough plays. Even after many blocked hits and missed serve-receives, the team held its own with consistent plays and good energy.
“Everyone on the team really brought something that helped us. Our Captains especially helped with the energy and bringing everyone back up… The beginning of the third set was very exciting. There were some great rallies, and the energy overall was very high,” wrote Piasecki in an email to The Phillipian.
Following Saturday’s loss, Ashley Schuman ’27 noted how the team wanted to work on being vocal and encouraging teammates both on the court and on the bench, as well as remaining positive when placed in challenging circumstances.
“We’re definitely going to focus on communicating more, and trying to forget about our mistakes and just moving on… I’m really going to try to focus on being loud and being supportive from the bench, and I know a lot of us other players who are on the bench are going to do the same… Being supportive of one another through mess-ups is key,” said Schuman.
Learning from struggles in the match against Loomis, the team came out strong in its game against Groton on Wednesday. Alex Dalrymple-Roth ʼ25 described how each player showed grit on the court to fight for every point.
“To get a crucial play is really to dive for every ball, and I feel like that’s what we really focused on this game. Everyone was really hustling and trying to go for every single ball, and I think that when we get those balls up, that’s when the best plays happen,” said Dalrymple-Roth.
Darymple-Roth emphasized the importance of strong team dynamics, which was a factor to the team’s win against Groton. She mentioned how the team was able to take each individual person’s skill and maximize its effect on the court.
“All of the players bring something to the table for the games, but [what] we really needed to work on and we did significantly better in today, was really trying to tie all of our strengths together and make it all work as a team,” Dalrymple-Roth said.
With the momentum after the win against Groton, Lena Ciganer-Albeniz ’25 has high hopes for the Girls Volleyball’s trajectory. Ciganer-Albeniz noted that the team is on the same page about what its goals are and how strongly it wants to achieve them.
“We’re in a pretty good place right now. We bounced back from a really tough loss and we swept today so I think the motivation is high and we’re all willing to work hard for it. That’s our mindset and we’re excited to beat Tabor [Academy] on Saturday,” said Ciganer-Albeniz.
Andover will face Tabor on the road on Saturday.
