With two starting hitters out to injury, the varsity volleyball squad squared up against Dana Hall, showing remarkable grit and versatility, but still falling short in three hard-fought sets.
 
The first set opened well, with aces by hard-serving Lily Renneker '17. A few missed hits in a row put Middlesex in an early deficit, although a kill by team captain Rose-Marie Fuchs '15 off of the set by Abby Meyers '16 helped to shift the momentum back in the Zebras' favor. Maile Cowell '17 served up another ace for MX, and followed it up with an assist to Lily for another big kill. Middle Lydia Paddock '17 and outside Sarah Ong '16 put up a big double block to end a long rally. Shortly after, Lily dug up a ball to setter Leyla Hotamisligil '18 for the kill by Sarah for a big sideout, but it was not enough to reverse the score, and Middlesex fell 17-25 in the first.
 
The second set opened with one of Dana Hall's top servers putting them on the board first, but libero Nina Huttemann's perfect pass to Abby for a crushing kill by Lydia gained the sideout and the point for Middlesex. A series of great plays by Middlesex put them on top: aces by Lily, Lydia, and Sarah; kills by Ari Odom '17, Sarah, and Rose-Marie off of Leyla's assists. Abby Meyers then set up a few kills in a row, first to Rose-Marie and then to Lily. Lydia and Ari showed their power at the net with a huge double block to end a long rally. MX continued to trade sideouts with Dana Hall; a few highlights included kills both down the line and cross court by Ari off of Leyla's assists. A few errors allowed the score to slip away, and the second set ended 19-25.
 
The Zebras were similarly competitive in the third set, , first getting on the board when Nina's perfect dig allowed Leyla to set up a huge kill by Lydia. Again, a few errors put Middlesex in a rut in the middle of the set, but a kill by Rose-Marie off of Abby's assist again served to shift the momentum. Another long rally was ended with a backrow kill by Sarah. Leyla came in again to serve, and dished up an ace before setting up a kill to Lily off of Nina's dig to end a long rally and keep the serve. A big sideout came off of a dig by Lily to Leyla for the kill by Lydia. Lily then moved to the back and served a well-placed ace down the line. In the end, the Zebras fell short 18-25 in the 3rd.
 
Middlesex looks forward to hosting its final home game of the season against Governor's on Friday, October 24 at 5:00 PM.