Volleyball Pummels Choate in Three Sets

Last Sunday, Exonians crowded the bleachers of Love Gymnasium to support the undefeated Big Red girls’ varsity volleyball team. Fans cheered as the team extended their winning season record to 4-0 with their victorious home game against Choate Rosemary Hall, in which Exeter won all three sets with scores of 25-22, 25-13 and 25-22.

“We have a really strong and experienced team this season with returners who have good chemistry with each other.”

Exeter’s players went into the game anticipating intense competition from the Choate team, last season’s Division A New England Prep School league champions. Nonetheless, prep Brody Faliero had faith in her team’s training, skill and coordination. “We expected a tough game. Last season, Exeter was going for a three-peat New England championship, but Choate broke Exeter’s two year long run [2014 and 2015],” she said.

Nevertheless, Big Red came together. “We have a really strong and experienced team this season with returners who have good chemistry with each other,” Faliero said.

Senior Annelise Romero felt that the girls’ nervous anticipation leading up to the game hindered their performance in the first set, an intense back-and-forth match that ended with a close tally of 25-22.

“We were hesitant in the beginning because it was a game we had been gearing up for a while and we thought Choate would be better than they actually were,” Romero said. “If we had collected ourselves, I think we could have had a bigger difference in the first set.”

However, Exeter picked up momentum after their first victory and dominated the second and third sets with an organized outside hitter lineup of senior Ashley Kim and uppers Sophie Faliero and Lizzie McBride passing the ball with accuracy and finesse, combined with upper Jenny Yang’s strong setting of the ball.

Another standout player was senior Chloe Scocimara, who leapt into the air and planted a crucial kill that advanced Exeter’s victory in the third set. Upper Tara Weil praised Scocimara for her dexterity on the court. “Chloe was amazing on Sunday. Her kills were perfect, targeting just the right points on the rival court so that Choate couldn’t keep the ball off the ground,” Weil said.

Senior Molly O’Day also commended the team for their rebound. “In the second game, we got comfortable with ourselves and became more confident,” she said. “On the opposite side, Choate seemed a bi t rattled after their loss in the first set. We worked together and became stronger and stronger as the game went on, pulling through with two more wins.”

Faliero believes that winning the game against Choate is a step towards the team’s ultimate goal of another New England championship title. “Of course, their team is different from the team that won last year, but I still consider this a statement victory,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll continue with our winning record next week against Loomis.”