On Wednesday, November 9, the Middlesex Varsity Volleyball team traveled to Groton, Mass. to battle the Lawrence Academy Spartans in the Zebras' final ISL match of the regular season. With Lawrence in the hunt for a playoff berth in the NEPSAC Class B tournament and Middlesex looking to clinch the league title, it was a hard-fought match with plenty of long rallies, but in the end, Middlesex brought home the victory, 3-0.
In the first set, most of the Middlesex squad seemed sluggish, and the match remained close due to gritty rallies by the Spartans and hitting and service errors by the Zebras. Middle hitter and co-captain Lydia Paddock '17, however, found her groove early and scored the first kill of the match, siding out Lawrence's top server. Libero Nina Huttemann '18 had the first service run of the match with her jump float serve, which Lawrence overpassed-- outside hitter and co-captain Lily Renneker was there to take advantage of the free ball, sending it to setter Defne Colak who set up a kill by outside hitter Hadley Jevon '19. Lily was the next hitter to get hot, and she scored several crushing kills off of spectacular digs by both Nina and Hadley, and the first set ended 25-21, Middlesex.
The squad looked similarly slow on their feet in the second set, but a different set of hitters stepped up to score big: after a good service run early on, defensive specialist Stephanie Li '17 got a great kill from the back row assisted by Defne after a perfect serve receive by Nina. A dig by Lily to Defne set up a quick hit by middle hitter Mimi Larrieux, who put it away for the kill. Toward the end of the set, with the score tied at 18-18, a big kill cross-court by opposite hitter Natalie Burden '18 sided out the Spartans' best server and put Middlesex on top again; the second set ended on back-to-back Zebra kills: the first by Lily to put them at set point, and the second by Mimi to end the second set 25-21.
With the full team now warm and ready, the third set was more decisive: a perfect serve receive by outside hitter Avery Light '18 to Defne set up a kill by Lily to sideout Lawrence's first server, and a series of good service runs by various players extended the Middlesex lead through the middle of the set, when they began to pull away. A particularly long run by Hadley made the Zebras' lead insurmountable, and strong work at the net by the whole front row forced the Lawrence offense to adjust to the Middlesex block. Nina kept control of the Zebras' back row, and a final dig by Nina to Defne set up a kill by Natalie, ending the third set 25-15.
Middlesex (18-2 overall) ends its 2016 ISL season with a 13-1 league record, which guarantees a minimum share of the league title. The Zebras look forward to traveling to the St. Paul's School in Concord, N.H. on Saturday, November 12 for their final match of the regular season as they gear up for the NEPSAC Class B postseason tournament, which begins with the quarterfinal round on Wednesday, November 16.
