Volleyball Seeks First Win Against Big Blue Since '07

Coming off of a difficult year that culminated in a heartbreaking 0-3 loss at Exeter/Andover, girls' volleyball started and finished off this season with strong runs, including four 3-0 victories. With a decisive win over Northfield Mount Hermon this past Saturday, volleyball has guaranteed themselves a winning record, holding a 11-6 record as they head into this year's E/a weekend.Behind the leadership of co-captain seniors Weilin Chan and Kaelina Lombardo, as well as the other returning seniors Maddie Firkey and Claudia Feng, volleyball quickly accustomed themselves to perform with a large pool of underclassmen, winning their first five games of the season. Following a 1-3 loss to Choate, in which every game was decided by  two points, volleyball took two more victories in the next week against Kingswood and Loomis Chaffee, and thereby raised their record to a very impressive 7-2 on the season.At this point, however, volleyball hit their longest losing spell of the year dropping three in a row that included a 0-3 defeat at Andover: "The last time we played Andover, it was a tough match but we have been practicing all week to prepare for this game and are ready to come out strong this weekend," Firkey said. "We've been working with a few different lineups and matchups in order to surprise Andover with some trick weapons. As a team, we have reviewed our mistakes in our previous matchup and know what to expect this time around which will be a great advantage for us."Big Red has also hit a hot streak, going 4-0 in four away games since this loss at Andover. The girls are hopeful that this string of wins will give them what they need to take home their first victory at E/a since 2007, which was also the last time they took a set against Big Blue at E/a."Coming off a big win against NMH last Saturday. we have the momentum to be able to snatch this game and get the win," Firkey said. "This game will be a good testament to how we will handle the playoffs next week, and I feel confident that it will reflect how competitive we are this year."