Girls Volleyball

Girls Volleyball: Victory over NMH

Claudia Leopold ’18 delivered 13 winning first-set service points for Andover Girls Volleyball against Northfield Mount Hermon (NMH) on Saturday, propelling the team to a 25-20 win in the opening portion of the contest. Leopold’s performance set the tone for Andover’s eventual 3-1 victory, which improved the team’s record to 5-1.

At the beginning of the first set, Andover and NMH traded points until Andover pulled away and built a 19-9 lead.

In the second set, Serena Liu ’19, Sewon Park ’17, and Captain Evelyn Mesler ’17 created many scoring opportunities to lead the team to a decisive 25-16 win.

Mesler said, “For the first two games, the team’s serves were strong and helped us to maintain a more aggressive edge on NMH. Along those same lines, I would say the serves were instrumental to our success in the first and second set.”

Mesler said, “For the first two games, the team’s serves were strong and helped us to maintain a more aggressive edge on NMH. Along those same lines, I would say the serves were instrumental to our success in the first and second set.”

Although the team started the match strongly, Andover’s energy and focus began to wane during the third set. The team went ahead 10-5 early in the set, but after four rotations, NMH tied the score. Ultimately, the team lost the set 25-20.

Caroline Yun ’18 said, “After the third set, it was clear NMH really wanted to win. So to regroup, we made sure that we wanted to win more, and really bring that energy out onto the court.”

The team came back in the fourth set, alternating tips with hard hits and changing the speed of the game. Anezka Kuncova ’17 and Brooke Fleming ’20 each contributed service wins, earning five and three points for Andover, respectively.

Leopold said, “We realized that we couldn’t get complacent and let NMH in. We focused on what we worked on in practice, especially changing the tempo of the game by pushing the ball deep on the second touch or varying our hits by rolling, tipping, and crushing the ball. As always, our servers were a huge asset, especially Margot [Forti ’17], Anezka, and Brooke.”

“We knew that coming back in fifth set would be really hard, so we pushed one another in the fourth set to finish early and not struggle anymore. I think we put more energy and commitment into the game. We had fewer service errors and played smart instead of just hitting the ball,” said Kuncova.

The team is looking forward to its game against Choate this Saturday and hopes to extend its winning streak.

 

Editor’s Note: Sewon Park is a Commentary Editor for The Phillipian.