This weekend The Big Green took on the girls from Phillips Academy Andover. Deerfield went into the game excited about the opportunity to be challenged, and to rise to that challenge. Practices all week had been fast-paced and high energy after our short break for Family Weekend.
In the first two sets Deerfield and Andover both started out strong. All serves were tough and hitting was powerful from both sides. Deerfield had a few key missed serves and hitting errors that left them behind 25-20 in the first set. They again started out strong in the second set, going point for point with Andover until one of the Big Blue’s servers proved to challenge us and they gained a dominant lead. Deerfield never gave up, fighting back from a decent gap to bring the set close in the last few points, but eventually Andover finished the set to win it’s second.
The third set showed an even stronger showing from Deerfield. Something we have been focusing all year—picking up the intensity after the first couple sets—came to fruition and it was like we could do no wrong. We went on a few serving runs, and battled through every rally to come out on top in that set.
In the fourth set, Andover again picked up their intensity, and Deerfield seemed to lose steam. After falling behind by a sizable gap, Deerfield pushed at the end to close it, but ultimately were unable to come back.
Although Deerfield lost the match 3-1, both coaches and players are incredibly happy and proud of how we played. We fought with one of the top teams in our league, and the Andover coaches even expressed how impressed they were with our girls!
We look forward to this week as we have Wednesday off, and go up against Taft this Saturday.