On Thursday September 20th, the Middlesex Varsity Volleyball squad traveled to Newton, Mass. for an evening contest against Newton Country Day. The team shook off their road legs and improved their level of play in each set, finding some momentum as the defense adjusted to Newton's powerful outside hitter. Some first set highlights included a service run of four aces by captain and outside hitter Hadley Jevon '19. The girls used the momentum from Hadley's run to dig up some hard-hit balls and to make some attacks of their own. A great dig by outside hitter Mayu Lee '20 was then set by Sofia Dickinson '22 for a kill by opposite Maggie Chamberlain '19. A few plays later, libero Sevilla Jin '21 dug up a hit from the middle to setter Sophia Poplyk '21 who assisted a kill by Mayu. NCD won the first set 25-15.

In the second set, it was Mayu and Sophia Poplyk's turn to go on service runs, keeping the scoreline even until the very end of the set. Maggie earned another kill off of Sofia Dickinson's assist for a great sideout to end a Newton run, and middle hitter Morgan Clapp '22 then kept Mayu's service run going with another big kill. Morgan led the team with seven kills in her debut match for the Zebras. Defensive specialist Angela Bi '21 adjusted in the back row to dig up several consecutive attacks by Newton's outside, allowing Sofia to set up kills by Hadley and Morgan. When Sophia Poplyk rotated in to serve, she dished up three consecutive aces, and then a great pass by Sevilla allowed Poplyk to set up a kill by Mayu to end a long rally. The second set remained close until 21-21 when NCD finally pulled away to close the set after a few unforced errors by Middlesex.

In the third and final set, Middlesex scored first as Sevilla sent a perfect pass to Poplyk, allowing her to set up a crushing kill by middle Kiley Briand '20. The Zebras continued to adjust to Newton's offense on the outside, and a crucial defensive pickup by Grace Chamberlain '19 as well as opposite hitter Derin Colak '20's stuff block to sideout a long run by Newton helped shift the momentum. Two consecutive blocked overpasses by Morgan evened the scoreline, followed shortly by a perfectly placed shot down the line by Hadley to find the gap in Newton's defense. With the scoreline even, the last seven points of the set were decided as Newton's strongest player rotated back to serve and found her groove with a jump topspin serve, managing to ace out the last couple of points to end the set 25-16.

Despite the 0-3 score, the Zebras are encouraged by the girls' grit and improvement in each set, and look forward to fine tuning their play in training before opening up the ISL season next week with contests against Tabor and Milton. The team first travels to Tabor Academy (Marion, Mass.) on Wednesday, September 26 for a 3:30pm match.