The Middlesex Varsity Volleyball squad traveled to the Rivers School in Weston, Mass. on Wednesday, October 23 for a midweek ISL competition, and both teams donned pink warmups and socks and played with a pink game ball as part of a joint "Play for Pink" effort to raise awareness about breast cancer. Both teams appeared evenly matched, but Rivers played a cleaner match, making fewer unforced errors, and defended their home court with a win that broke the Zebras' winning streak.
The Zebras fell behind early in the first set as the Redwings' consistent, tough float serve caught them on their heels. An early highlight and a first-ball sideout came on a great receive by captain and outside hitter Mayu Lee '20 to setter Sophia Poplyk '21, who set up a kill by opposite Natalie McCall '21. Outside Katy Qin '21 was next to serve, and immediately dished up an ace. Toward the middle of the set, it seemed that the Zebras were going to begin a comeback when captain and middle hitter Kiley Briand stepped back to serve, and a long rally was ended when Poplyk assisted a second-ball kill by middle Morgan Clapp '22. A couple plays later, defensive specialist Sofia Dickinson '22 sent a dig of an outside hit to Poplyk, who set up a kill by Katy down the line. But at that point, the Rivers middle blockers stuffed several Zebra hits in a row, and the Zebra offense struggled to find their rhythm, giving up several consecutive unforced errors and losing the first set 13-25.
In the second set, Middlesex cleaned up many of their unforced errors, but still were less consistent than usual at the serve, while the Redwings continued to improve their serving percentage. The Zebras actually scored more kills in the first half of the set; one highlight was a perfect serve receive by libero Sevilla Jin '21 that allowed Poplyk to set up a kill by Morgan. A few plays later, Kiley, assisted by Poplyk, stuffed the Redwings' outside for a big sideout. The scoreline continued even through the middle of the set, with the score tied 9-9, then 11-11, then 16-16, before the Redwings finally took control of the set and pulled into a lead. A late-set sideout came off of a big double block by Natalie and Kiley, but the set ultimately ended 19-25, Rivers.
The third set again stayed fairly even, as Middlesex again adjusted to reduce errors and improved their consistency at serve. The result was that the scoreline stayed even throughout the set. At the end of the third set, with the score at 22-23, a kill by Sevilla from the back row tied the score up at 23-23. The Redwings' outside scored the next kill to put the score at set point, but a big sideout came on a dig by Poplyk, which Sevilla stepped in to set up to Natalie who put away the kill, tying the score at 24-24. The next point came on an error by Rivers that ended a long rally, to put the score at set point, Zebras, but then another long rally ended in Rivers' favor to tie it up again at 25-25. Once again, the Redwings' consistent, tough serve proved a major asset, and they scored the next two to close out the match 25-27, Rivers.
Although disappointed with this loss, which puts their record at 9-2 overall (6-2 ISL), the Zebras are encouraged by the higher level of play they exhibited in the third set, and look forward now to fine-tuning some elements of their game before facing Thayer Academy, another ISL opponent this Saturday, October 26 at 4:00pm to conclude their Parents' Weekend festivities.
Highlights video link: http://www.hudl.com/v/2CC4uU
