On Wednesday October 26, the Middlesex Varsity Volleyball team hosted the Thayer Tigers for their second match of the season and came away with another ISL win in straight sets.
Although Middlesex was first on the board with a great serve receive by defensive specialist Stephanie Li '17 to setter Defne Colak '18, who set up a well-cut kill by middle hitter and co-captain Lydia Paddock '18, the Zebras still looked somewhat shaky to start, giving up some points early to unforced errors. With the first set tied 6-6, libero Nina Huttemann '18 rotated back to serve, forcing a passing error by the Tigers with her tricky jump float and then dishing up a pair of consecutive aces to put Middlesex on top. Another good service run, this time by Stephanie, tallied another five aces for Middlesex and added on to the Zebras' lead. A final run by middle hitter Mimi Larrieux allowed the Zebras' offense to show off, as Stephanie converted free balls sent over by Thayer into kills first by outside hitter and co-captain Lily Renneker '17 and then by Lydia, both assisted by Defne. Thayer called a timeout with the score at 22-9, and, following the timeout, Mimi aced out the first set, which ended 25-9, Middlesex.
The second set again began with a kill by Lydia, this time a quick hit assisted by Defne, catching the Tigers off guard. When Lily rotated back to serve, her jump topspin serve proved too difficult for the Tigers to handle, and they sent it back as an overpass, which Nina easily converted into a kill by opposite hitter Natalie Burden '18 assisted by Defne. Various unforced errors in the middle of the set, including some missed hits and some missed serves-- uncharacteristic for this team, which generally has a high serve percentage-- allowed the score to stay relatively close through the middle of the set, when Lily again rotated back to serve. Her topspin serve remained difficult for Thayer to return, and she scored three aces and put Middlesex more decisively on top. At 23-17, Thayer overpassed the tricky float serve from outside hitter Hadley Jevon '19, but Lily was ready to pounce with the stuff block to put Middlesex at set point. A final kill by Mimi assisted by Defne from a perfect pass by Nina ended the second set 25-17.
The final set was more like the first, with a few unforced errors, but with a more consistent serve and a well-varied offense. Some great work at the net helped the Zebras to pull into an early lead, with big blocks by Hadley, Lily, and Lydia. A few plays later, Nina's perfect dig allowed Defne to set up a crushing quick hit by Mimi to end one of the longer rallies of the match. The set ended 25-10 with a great cross-court kill by Natalie assisted by Defne.
Middlesex (15-1; 11-0 ISL) will travel to Milton Academy at 3:00PM on Saturday, October 29 for their second ISL match of the week.
