Continuing their road experience, the varsity volleyball team travelled to Pomfret to face Pomfret School and Convent of the Sacred Heart, emerging with victories by scores of 2-1 and 2-0, respectively.
The team spent practice time this week focusing on blocking at the net and increasing the tempo of our offense and it showed from the beginning of play against Pomfret. Kaelene Spang ‘19 and Evan Burkert ‘21 were able to contest balls at the net as well as put the ball on the floor after sets from Rosa Sun ‘21. Georgia Quesnelle ‘19 owned the outside of the net (and the service line) while Abby Bracken ‘19 used her blocking prowess to control their outside hitters and force them into tips which were covered by the backrow hustle of Daphne Gavros ‘22 and Soo-Min Lee ‘19. While Deerfield was able to take the first set comfortably against Pomfret, the Griffins used their strong middle hitting and blocking to be able to win a close 2nd set and force a deciding 3rd set. Deerfield again showed their poise, confidence, and grit by fighting back from a 9-12 deficit in the 3rd set to win 15-12, riding the serves of Georgia Quesnelle and strong efforts at the net from our front-row players.
With a quick turnaround for the match against CSH, Deerfield was able to come right out and establish control of the match. Michelle Zimmermann ’21, Izzy McDonald ‘20, Aoife Bruce ‘22, Alexia Baker ‘19, and Lara Akande ‘20 took advantage of over-passes from the other side of the net to win points for Deerfield while Camila Navarro ‘20 saw her first front-row action of the year and re-established her powerful, controlled swing. CSH was able to successfully dig a number of our strong hits, but in the end, Deerfield prevailed comfortably, 2-0.
On Wednesday, Deerfield has its first home match of the year against a perennially strong team from Loomis; game time is 3:30 pm.