Volleyball Cruises Against Deerfield, Sweeps to Win

DEERFIELD, MA - Girls' volleyball blew through Deerfield Academy this Saturday in their second sweep of the season. Exeter was able to push past their recent losses against St. Pauls, NMH and Andover to crush Deerfield, bringing their record to 8-5.“After our past few games, we realized as a team what we needed to do to play our best and win,” senior co-captain Weilin Chan said. “The drive to prove ourselves and play to our potentials really helped us during the game­—the team really pulled it together after our loss against Andover. We were down a couple points sometimes, but we never let that stop us from playing hard.”Many players agreed that Exeter’s motivation and positive attitude were the key factors pushed them to this win.Lower Michelle Bosche thinks that the team’s mindset was the critical factor that separated a win from a loss. “I think we always have the potential and the skill to beat the competition, but our mindset and confidence doesn’t always let us play our best,” she said. “Against Deerfield, we were all confident with ourselves and all played to our potential, which led us to the win. Our chemistry and energy were great on the court and we stayed positive the entire time.”Lower Josie Russ thought that this enthusiasm was what tipped the balance. “The greatest difference between the other two games was our attitude,” she said. “Having a positive and confident attitude are always really advantageous.”“We started to have more fun while we played so that helped—we played more as a team,” middle hitter, lower Peace Kabari said.Once Exeter was put in this mindset, Big Red volleyball was able to use the skills they had been perfecting to smoke Deerfield. Bosche recalled a particularly thrilling play in which setter Brooke Detwiler was able to recover a ball that had been deflected to close to the net. “A back row player passed the ball a little close to the net, and our setter, Brooke Detwiler, had to set it one handed from the other side of the net, which is extremely difficult to do,” Bosche said. “Taylor Jean-Jacques was ready for it to be perfect, though, and it was and we got a great kill that [Deerfield] wasn't expecting—this was the first time this hit had ever worked for us.”Chan believes that in that instance the team’s passing improved dramatically as a result of the better attitude, and she thinks that Brooke’s play helped to keep the team excited. “This was a skill that they have been working on, and the successful hit was so exciting for the entire team,” she said.Russ agreed that passing improved, and thinks that the defense was able to block Deerfield’s hits successfully. “A definite component to sweeping Deerfield was having a strong start to the first match,” she said. “Our defense this game really improved! Most of our digs and serve receives were right to our setter.”Chan added that moving forward from this victory, the team still has room to improve. “We are working on our defensive positioning so that we can dig more balls,” she said. “The hitters are also working on turning their hands when they hit so that the path of the ball is less predictable.”Bosche is confident that if the team will is able to channel their enthusiasm they will be successful in the future. “We need to stay positive and confident, and if we do, I know our team can be the best in the league. We've beat the top two ranked teams in the league, and we've lost to some teams we shouldn't have,” she said. “If we stay positive and confident, we can do very well."