Girls’ Volleyball defeats Wayland 3-1 in home opener
The team went all out in showing spirit for their first game with their volleyball face paint.
September 16, 2015
WA Girls’ Volleyball defeated Wayland on Wednesday, September 16th, winning 3 sets to 1, in a tense game that had the massive audience on the edge of their seats.
In a strong first set, the girls dominated their opponents 25-15. There was a certain energy on the court among the team; their communication and coordination having improved significantly since the last time the team took the home court.
“We have a young team, and even though we messed up rotation a couple times but still pulled through. They did awesome,” said Co-Captain Catherine Grondine.
However, the second set was much closer in terms of score, with Wayland taking a small lead to make it 21-17. After a timeout was called by coach Brandon Eang, the girls brought the score to a tie, at 21-21. The score stayed tied up for the next few points, eventually going 24-23 in Wayland’s favor. The crowd was silent and tensions were high as they prepared for what could be the last point of the set, and unfortunately due to the ball hitting the ceiling and bouncing in an unpredictable way, Wayland took the second set 25-23. Despite the set loss, the girls remained confident, and focused on adjusting their placement on the court to take back control of the game in the next set.
The third set started off as another nailbiter in favor of Wayland, with the score 13-10. The girls soon tied up the score again at 13-13, and eventually took the lead after a streak of serves by Co-Captain Emily Graziani, making the score 17-15. The girls continued this streak to end the set 25-17 and took the match lead, 2 sets to 1.
“The difference from how we played at our last game to this game was night and day. We fought hard in our last game, lost in [the fifth set] and fought even harder this game. Our covering was amazing, literally everyone covered,” said senior Bridget Gomes.
The fourth and final set of the game was heavily in WA’s favor. After their comeback and success in the previous set, it was clear the girls had found the magic setup and strategy to dominate Wayland. Starting off the set with a score of 7-5, WA did not let up on the pressure, and after achieving a decisive lead of 20-16, they finished out the set by a score of 25-20, sending Wayland home with a loss.
Overall, both the crowd and the team themselves were impressed by their performance, with many of the players spouting praise for one another and their excellent coordination on the court. While this is only the first home game and the second one of the season, everyone is looking forward to seeing the success of the team in the future.
“I think we are improving, we are moving in the right direction, so I’m proud of these girls tonight. We have a good chemistry this year […] I think this year the girls work well together in terms of personality,” said Eang.
Senior Hannah Chateauneuf was also pleased about the way her team bounced back from the mistakes they had made in their previous games.
“What I really like about this year’s team is that we realize what we need to work on in a game, work on it in practice, and execute it,” said Chateauneuf.
Below is a slideshow of some of the moments from the game. Keep it locked on the Ghostwriter to provide continuous coverage of girls’ volleyball for the rest of the season.
