Volleyball Beats Pingree Handily to Remain Undefeated

EXETER, NH - Girls’ volleyball swept Pingree School in a swift home game on Saturday, setting a five-game winning streak. In the first set, Exeter’s A-line dominated, almost tripling Pingree’s score. The 25-9 victory prompted Exeter to send in its less experienced players to finish the game. While the last two sets were more closely contested, the Exeter B-line pulled through, winning two sets by a score of 25-21 to take the game.Several factors contributed to Exeter’s win.According to upper Caroline Lu, Pingree is a smaller school with a less experienced team relative to other competitors. Despite this, several teammates echoed the sentiment that this game allowed Exeter to “play to its potential,” as head coach Bruce Shang phrased it.Senior co-captain Weilin Chan said that they accomplished this goal successfully as a team. “We were also supporting each other really well throughout the course of the game, both on and off the court,” Chan said. “I think Pingree was playing their hardest, but they may have been a bit frustrated because they fell so behind during the first set.”“We didn’t have to focus on playing defense because they didn’t make a ton of kills, and they weren’t able to set up the ball as much,” Lu said. “We were able to play more offensively and to really focus on being able to set up really great kills.”Prep Rachel Luo made her successful debut in Exeter varsity athletics playing as setter in the second and third sets. “I was really proud of Rachel, who, in the second match, played in her very first varsity game at Exeter,” upper Brooke Detwiler said. “She is the only prep on varsity and I think she did a fantastic job of leading the team on the court.”Lu believes that, although challenged, the B-string held out well against Pingree. “There were moments in the second set where we were down by a couple points but I think we really held it out,” she said. “Zaidee was our captain-on-court for the second and third game; she was really supportive, and she did a really great job.”“Coach trusted the second team strongly enough to put us in. Within the game communication helped a lot,” lower Peace Kabari said. “I believe there were points where we were tired or they were up by one, but we were able to pull through with a win.”Coming from this sweep, the team still needs to prepare for a big game against Choate on Saturday. Chan said that, overall, the team is working to improve confidence and mutual trust during passes moving forward from this game. “Having confidence is crucial during volleyball, especially during passing and hitting,” Chan said. “Another thing that is improving is everyone’s trust in each other.  We have less conflicts on the court resulting from two people going for a ball at once or no one going for the ball.”