Girls' varsity volleyball crushes Wheaton

NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM, SEPT. 11 --

The girls' varsity volleyball team (1-2) defeated the Wheaton Knights (1-2) in a four-set game. Despite dropping the first set to Wheaton, by a score of 19-25, the Blazers managed to turn it around winning the next three sets with ease 25-8, 25-12 and 25-14, respectively.

The Blazers struggled in the first set. Unforced errors caused the team to get down early. Head coach Christopher Klein attributes the tough first set to a lack of execution and precision."We started out really rough. We weren't passing well and we weren't communicating," Klein said. "Pretty much everything that could go wrong did go wrong."

Klein blames the team's mind-set for the shaky start. After regrouping, the team had its best offensive execution in the second set. "We totally restarted," Klein said.

The second set started off with a slew of volleys from both teams that kept the score tied. On one of these volleys, junior Amy Yan helped the Blazers build a lead by ending a long volley with a kill and bringing the score to 6-4. Senior Linda Kang also helped build the Blazers' lead with a series of great serves. The Blazers advanced their score to 13-5 before losing the serve to Wheaton.

Yan attributed the teams' success in the second set to a change in the team's psychology. "Our attitude changed," Yan said. "We were focused."

In the third and fourth sets, Blair played well but kept the score relatively close. The team was able to keep their lead, especially in the third set, due in part to a few great blocks by junior Tatiana Sindass. "I felt really good about those," Sindass said. "My teammates supported me."

The Blazers ran into an obstacle in the fourth set when one of their starting players, sophomore Angela Zhou, jammed her thumb and was removed from the game. Coach Klein was forced to come up with substitutions to work around her absence. Despite these substitutions, Klein believes the team managed to stay focused."It didn't rattle them at that point. They had settled down into their game," he said.

The teammates agreed that the final three sets best represented their team's capabilities. Though the first set was difficult, the team managed to come together and play to their potential. "We played how we were supposed to play," Klein said.

The varsity girls' volleyball team will play its next home game against Wootton on Sept. 13 at 6:30 p.m.