On Saturday, varsity volleyball took the ride down I-91 to face Hopkins, falling by a score of 0-3.
After some travel difficulties (a bit of a theme this year, unfortunately), Deerfield arrived in New Haven for a quick warm-up before the start of the match. In front of Hopkins’s homecoming crowd, Deerfield looked like it was still settling in at the beginning of the match before the teams started to trade side-outs through to 10-11. A small service run from the Hilltoppers was matched by one from Deerfield until the serving of Elle Stearns ‘23 pushed Deerfield to its first lead of the day, 17-16. The teams then stayed within one point of each other with good hitting from Cate Shanahan ‘23 and Caroline Weller ‘23 along with strong setting from Daphne Gavros ‘22. A tough break at 23-23 allowed Hopkins to pull ahead and take the first set, 23-25.
The second set was similarly close, with Deerfield getting out to a slight lead at 7-4 while good hitting from Hopkins allowed them to keep it very close. Zoe Gavros ‘23 made a number of excellent defensive plays and Deerfield improved its serving percentage from the first set, but a few unforced errors allowed Hopkins to take the second set, 22-25.
The third set saw a number of unforced errors from Deerfield that allowed Hopkins to take advantage of their strong serves and hitting to cruise to the win, 11-25.
We next host Hotchkiss School on Wednesday at 3:45 pm in the Barn.