Girls' varsity volleyball subdues Springbrook

NELSON H. KOBREN GYMNASIUM, Oct. 1—

The girls' varsity volleyball team (3-4) played a hard fought game against the Springbrook Blue Devils (1-7) on Monday, winning the game in four sets with scores of 25-15, 25-17, 20-25 and 25-23. The Blazers started off strong in the first two sets, but had more difficulty holding Springbrook back in the final two.

According to Coach Christopher Klein, the Blazers went into the game with confidence, determined to win. "This is a very important game for us, because this is a rival team," he said. "We felt strong and we felt prepared, but as you can tell from the scores it was a very close match."

The Blazers had their surest victories of the night in the first two sets of the game by establishing leads early on and keeping Springbrook from closing the gap. "We started pretty strong in the first few sets," junior co-captain Amy Yan said.

The Blazers' game changed in the third set, as they were unable to get ahead of Springbrook early on. Though the teams were tied for most of the set, Blair fell behind at the very end of the set, losing a few points due to lack of ball control. "In the third set we kind of got tired or down a little, but we came back in the fourth set," Yan said.

Blair's confidence returned in the fourth set. The Blazers kept up a solid lead for most of the set, but then a rapid surrender of points to Springbrook at the last minute rekindled Springbrook's hopes for a win. The final volley, which was drawn-out and tense for both teams, Springbrook battled desperately for a chance to advance the score from 24-23 to tie the set at game point. Freshman Milica Radoja ended the volley and the game with a kill, securing the win for the Blazers.

Senior co-captain Lizzy Liu felt that the Blue Devils played similarly to the Blazers in some ways. "Springbrook is really scrappy, but we're scrappy too," she said.

Liu congratulated the Blue Devils on their determination throughout the game."They didn't give up," Liu said. "We had to be on our toes the entire time."

The girls' volleyball team will play their next home match against Whitman on Oct. 5, at 6:30 p.m.