Volleyball Takes Two in Andover

Last Saturday Exeter’s boys’ volleyball traveled to Andover, where the team competed against Wilbraham & Monson School and Andover. The team battled hard and beat Wilbraham and Monson 3--0, winning each set 25--14, 25--11 and 25-20. The team had a more closely contested game against Andover, winning 3--2, with set scores of 25-23, 21--25, 23--25, 25--20, and 15-9.

Big Red had many positive takeaways from its close match against Andover, including an increased sense of team tenacity. “We learned how to be a resilient team,” upper Max Kirsch explained.

"The team does have a few good athletes, [but] because many kids on the team play for club basketball teams, they don’t get a lot of time to practice. They actually had to forfeit in our first game against them because they didn’t have enough players.”

Senior Hugh O’Neil agreed, but noted that Wilbraham and Monson “wasn’t a very good side. The team does have a few good athletes, [but] because many kids on the team play for club basketball teams, they don’t get a lot of time to practice. They actually had to forfeit in our first game against them because they didn’t have enough players.”

O’Neil also elaborated on the game against Andover. “Andover was definitely a more interesting game. We beat them easily 3--0 the first time we played them, but this time it was more challenging… They really came at us, [and] it shocked us a little bit. We lost the second set [21--25], and by the start of the third set we had lost all momentum.”

O’Neil explained that although the team lost the third set, “we did win a string of ten points or so, which gained our momentum back.” Consequently, the team managed to win the fourth and fifth sets, leading to a great win against a rival team.

Lower Graham Rutledge agreed with O’Neil and offered insight about the Andover game. “It was very exciting. We were down 2 to -1 [sets], but we had momentum from the previous set, where Hugh went off for about 10 points in a row. I don’t think we were that worried; we had set our minds that we would win that game. Ben Swett and Andrew Poggione both had really good games.”

Big Red plays again next Saturday away at Wilbraham and Monson at 12:15. The boys will be competing in the NE tournament, where they hope to play to their maximum potential.