10/24/24 Highlight: Girls’ Varsity Volleyball

Griffin Breault / The Exonian

By SAM ALTMAN and ISHA SASTRY

On Wednesday, Oct. 16, Exeter’s varsity girls’ volleyball team faced off against our rival, Phillips Academy Andover. They continued their winning streak, bringing home a smashing 3-0 victory. 

“I thought serving for the whole team was really good in this game because we focused a lot on it in the days leading up to it, so that was nice to see,” captain Liv Lang commented.

“I was most proud of the team being supportive of each other. Even when we made errors on our side, we didn’t get frustrated,” prep Gavyn Jones said.

“My favorite moment was when Steph won a really long point for us that was going back and forth a long time—it really got our momentum back,” Jones continued.

Although the team was successful in the end, the game wasn’t quite what they were expecting. “While we won, I don’t think it was our strongest showing as a team. There were some bumps throughout, but overall we did keep it together and we were able to get the win. They definitely gave us a better game than we were expecting,” Lang said.

“Andover put up a really big block, which we weren’t really used to seeing from the other teams we’ve played so far,” senior Aoibhe McNamara added. “But I think our ability to implement what we’ve been doing in practice with a bunch of covering and adjusting to their big block over the course of the three sets is what I was most proud of.”

“Typically, if you see us call a timeout, it means we need to regroup,” Lang explained. “So, I think there was a moment in the middle of set two where Coach pulled us aside and told us we needed to get things together because we had just lost a few points in a row. That was a little tense, but typically it’s a good reset for us. We took a few breaths, got some water, and then went back out there and played even better.”

The team is also looking forward to a rematch with Andover in the future. “We’ll play them again on E/A. I think by that time at the end of the season, we’re going to show them a much stronger team that will be more exciting for our school to watch,” Lang added.

McNamara concluded, “We feel great. It makes me excited to play them again because now we have a preview of how they play and what we might expect from them. The energy is usually great at E/A and now we know that we can take them. We haven’t lost a set this season yet and so we have high energy and are hoping for a win at E/A.”