The Deerfield Junior Varsity volleyball team (2-1) hosted St. Paul’s School (4-0) in their third of five straight home matches during the inaugural St. Paul’s Day. St. Paul’s (SPS) started their season with a four-game winning streak, but that came to an end in the Pioneer Valley. The Deerfield girls played their best volleyball of the season as they swept the visitors 3-0.
The first set was a tight contest, with both teams playing strong. Deerfield missed some opportunities to take an early lead as multiple serves were hit into the net during the first rotation through the squad. But strong setting and smart hits allowed the girls to continually rally back. A late game service run by Juliette Lowe ’21, punctuated by two kills off the arm of Emma Weech ’21, resulted in a 25-22 Deerfield victory.
From this point forward, Big Green never looked back. The team clicked together and played two magnificent sets. New sophomore Abbie Deboer ’21 led the charge in the second set with a 9-point service run. Great passing allowed the setting duo of Steph Martinez ’20 and Juliette to orchestrate many strong plays. Steph, who set for the JV team last year, demonstrated her growing experience by taking charge of the court and playing her best game of the year. Claire Quan ’20 played her first game as the libero this season and thrived in her role as a backrow passer, joined by the equally proficient Maddie Lee ‘20. Deerfield also benefited from numerous double contact fouls called again SPS, as the opposing team struggled to place legal sets to their hitters. As the dust settled, Big Green walked away with 25-19 and 25-13 victories in sets two and three. In the final set, the visitors could only manage 5 points on their service.
The Deerfield JV squad should be proud of their efforts this afternoon. They rose to the challenge of facing an undefeated team and came away victorious. The team looks forward to hosting neighboring Northfield Mount Hermon (5-3) this coming Wednesday. It should be a great match!
Set one: 25-22
Set two: 25-19
Set three: 25-13