Young Girls' Volleyball Gains Valuable Learning Experience

Record: 7-11Girls’ varsity volleyball battled the difficulties ofhaving a young squad to finish with a record of 7-11. The season started off well for the girls, who wonfour out of the first six games of the season, includingtwo strong victories against Governor’s Academy. This strong start was particularly impressive consideringthat the team was in the midst of a transition toaccommodate and adapt to a very different team dynamicto previous years. Big Red graduated six seniors, orhalf their team from last season. With only five returningplayers, this year was a fresh start for girls’ varsityvolleyball, who recruited many new, younger members. “We had a young team this year,” co-captain ErinNapier said. “Many of the girls didn’t have much experienceplaying volleyball. I think the progress of ourteam throughout the season was a true testament to howgreat our coaches were.” Prep Taylor Jean-Jacques was one member of theteam who started playing volleyball for the first timethis year. She gave credit to coach Bruce Shang for hisassistance in the team’s development. “Our coach wasawesome,” she said. “His passion for the sport was evidenton a daily basis. He would do anything to help usimprove individually as well as a team. We grew veryclose to him as our mentor.” Exeter had a solid 4-3 start to the season, whichincluded wins against Milton, Pingree and Governor’s(twice). Unfortunately, Big Red then hit a tough fourgameskid. Two of the losses were to the powerhousesNorthfield Mount Hermon and Andover, against whichthe girls did not win more than a single set each. “In the middle of the season, many of our gameswere lost because of our lack of energy and confidence,”Shang said. “The captains, however, were great at encouragingus during these times, helping the team getback on our feet.” The team used a technique called “Squirrel” tostimulate the energy of the group when they appeareddown. “The captains would say ‘squirrel’ to break ourteam huddles when we needed to be more energized andpumped up,” Shang said. “Erin tried to get us hyper andacting like squirrels, which sounds crazy, but it worked.” Indeed, after these tough defeats, the girls beganto bounce back. After having played eleven games andundergone many simple, repetitive practices, both playersand coaches agreed that the team was much closer.In addition, the newer, younger members had showedgreat improvement. They played with more confidenceand skill, even in the starting lineup, which helped toboost the team towards the end of the season. “The preps had little experience with volleyball inthe beginning of the season but quickly proved to begreat volleyball players,” Shang said. “Peace Kabari started out the season as a newcomerto the game,” assistant coach Scott Saltman said. “Sheended the season as a starting middle blocker andblocked as well as anyone in the league.” “Over the season we were more able to understandwhich positions would be best for each of us,” Jean-Jacques said. “At the beginning of the year, several of uswere new to the sport and were unsure of which positionon the court would be best. By the end, we grew a betterunderstanding of the sport.” With newfound confidence, the girls beat DeerfieldAcademy three sets to two, with the support of onlookersand a close-knit team. Exeter then recorded one of itsbiggest wins of the season against Buckingham Browneand Nichols School. In a dominant performance, thegirls won by a score of three sets to one with impressivescores: 25-9, 25-19, 23-25, 25-18 consecutively. “The team as a whole definitely grew much closeras the season went on, and this bond really helped ussupport each other on the court,” Shang said. “Everyoneimproved a lot, especially the preps, some of whom hadnever played volleyball before.” However, the team then took a narrow loss to St.Paul’s two sets to three. Four days later they travelledto Pomfret, winning one game and losing another. In their final two games, the girls were up againstteams they had lost to earlier on in the season: NMHand Andover. Though they lost both matches 0-3, theteam considered the Andover game as a personal victory. “At the beginning we couldn’t even perform basicpassing drills, but at the end of the season we were rallyingwith Andover, one of the toughest teams in theleague,” Napier said. The girls will hope to build off of their progress next season,and the future looks bright. “Preps Michelle Bosche andPeace Kabari are two players to look out for,” Napier said.“Both of them got so much better over the course of oneseason, so I am excited to see how they will improve over thenext three years.” Though the season ended on a more negative note in terms ofpoints, the girls’ determination and enthusiasm never dampened,which was a true testament to their spirit.  “Despite these lastmoments of struggle and defeat on the court, we continued to havea fun team outside of practice,” Jean-Jacques said. “On the way togames we would sing and scream along to songs to the slightdisgruntlement of our coach who was driving.” Overall, while the team did not make it to the playoffs and on paperdid not have as successful a season as last year, there were manypersonal wins, and the girls all improved enormously. Throughout theseason, they transformed from some athletic beginners, with only afew individuals who had considerable varsity experience, to a talentedteam that worked together to compete with anyone. “Although we were not the best in New England, we truly did have theessence of a victorious team,” Jean-Jacques said.