The Middlesex Varsity Volleyball squad hosted Brooks School on Saturday, October 5, and, despite some fatigue and illness on the part of the Zebras as well as increasingly skilled and gritty play on the part of the Brooks team, who are competing in their first season as a varsity team, Middlesex still took the win, 3-0.

Middlesex was on the board first in set 1 with a service run by setter Sophia Poplyk '21. The first kill of the match started with a great pass by captain and outside hitter Mayu Lee '20, which allowed Poplyk to assist a crushing kill by opposite Natalie McCall '21 for a sideout. Outside hitter Katy Qin '21 then rotated back to serve, and her seven-point run, which included three aces, forced Brooks to take their first timeout to regroup. During her serve, Mayu was alert at the net and able to kill an overpassed serve receive. After Katy's run, the Zebras scored an immediate sideout on a solid pass by defensive specialist Emily Pyne-- Poplyk mixed up the offense and set up a cross-court kill by Mayu. Solid work by the whole squad on both offense and defense allowed Middlesex to extend their lead; another service run, this time by captain and middle hitter Kiley Briand '20, put the Zebras at 21 points, and a series of errors by Brooks forced by the tough Zebra serves brought the score to set point, and a stuff block by middle hitter Morgan Clapp '22 ended the first set 25-13, Middlesex.

Brooks looked sharper in the second set, committing fewer errors, and the Zebras' fatigue at the end of a long week began to show, as Middlesex gave up a few runs of points to unforced errors and miscommunication. Highlights of the second set included a solid service run by outside hitter Sydney Feeney '22, which included two aces, and a kill from the back row by defensive specialist Sofia Dickinson '22 to end a Brooks service run. The second set eventually ended on an aced serve by libero Sevilla Jin '21, 27-25.

The third set opened more propitiously for the Zebras with an aced serve by Poplyk followed by a perfect pass by Mayu that allowed Poplyk to set up a kill by Morgan. The Zebras looked more confident and played more cohesively for most of the third set. However Brooks remained resilient, and buoyed by two strong service runs by their libero, the visitors were able to take the lead, 13-18, in the middle of the set. The Zebras took back control of the scoreline on a long run by Sofia, which forced Brooks to take not one but two timeouts-- Sofia's consistently tough serve put Middlesex back in the lead. A few plays later, with the score at 24-24, a perfect pass by Sofia to Poplyk set up a kill by Morgan for a sideout, and then, at 25-24, Poplyk's tough serve was sent back as a free ball, and the Zebras capitalized, ending the third set 26-24 on another kill by Morgan, who closed the day as the match's leading scorer with 8 kills and 3 blocks.

Middlesex (5-1 overall, 3-1 ISL) will go on the road for two more ISL contests next week, traveling to Governor's Academy on Tuesday, October 8 for a 2:00pm match, and then to Groton School on Friday, October 11 for a 2:30pm start before heading into their fall long weekend for some needed rest.

Highlight video link: http://www.hudl.com/v/2C1B4W