Volleyball Falls to St. Paul's

BYFIELD, MA - Playing two games in three days, Big Red volleyball got a chance to see just how much their gameplay has really improved against two schools they had played earlier in the season. Volleyball leveled with a straight sets win against Governor’s on Monday and a l-3 loss against St. Paul’s School on Saturday. In previous games, the team produced similar set scores, but the simple numbers do not reflect the team’s very real improvement.Lower Taylor Jean-Jacques saw their St. Paul’s matchup as evidence of their own improvement relative to St. Paul’s over the season. “We performed better in our most recent game,” said Jean-Jacques. “We improved over the few weeks we had in between our games, particularly with our communication. We were much more in sync.”Senior co-captain Weilin Chan spoke of the team’s massive improvement. “This past game against St. Paul’s was much better than our first one,” said Chan. “When we played them at the beginning of the season, the team wasn’t playing to its best and we kept making errors that really cost us the game. In this past game we still made errors but had a better mental state to push through to the next point.”The players have made startling strides in their mental maturity. This maturity, was evident in Big Red’s match against Governors Academy the following Monday. When faced with a giant deficit in the first set, the girls, with nerves of steel, rallied from 1-11 down to close out the first set 25-21. They then took the next two sets with ease. Exeter improved their set score from a closely contested 3-1 win earlier in the season to a crushing straight sets victory. “We learned that we have to earn the win,” said lower Peace Kabari. “To start strong and stay strong.”“We really saw the improvement of our middle hitters. Peace and Taylor both hit really well during that game and were able to get lots of kills,” Chan said.How will the girls walk away from the games? Chan responded that the girls have learned that it is not that teams are beating Exeter in most losses, but that, due to their mental game, Big Red volleyball often beats itself. “The important aspect for our team when playing any other team is for us to not beat ourselves by making errors,” Chan said. Chan’s observation is crucial as Big Red looks to close out their best season yet with a historic victory against Andover. In 13 games since 2007, including one earlier in this 2013 season, Big Red has not won a single matchup against their Big Blue rival. But with a stacked team of young, strong hitters, Big Red looks to make history.