Starting off the full slate of matches on Choate Day, Deerfield volleyball traveled to Wallingford and earned a 3-0 win in front of a crowded gym on Saturday morning.
After a short ceremony during warm-ups to recognize seniors from both teams (thank you class of ‘23: Zoe Gavros, Meghan Holland, Natalie Meyer, Georgia Sackrey, Cate Shanahan, Elle Stearns, and Caroline Weller), both teams traded side-outs until Choate pushed out to an early 5-9 lead. A timeout allowed Deerfield to reset and get back to fundamentals which started to chip away at Choate’s lead. Setting from Holland and Wuyee Ke ‘26 allowed hitters Shanahan, Weller, Meyer, Evie Mokarow ‘24, Sackrey, and Harmoni Dobbins ‘26 to get involved and eventually take the set, 25-21.
The second set had a similar feel with the teams staying close until a service run from Shanahan took the score from 13-13 to 19-13. Consistent passing from Gavros and Stearns allowed Deerfield to run its offense and Deerfield was able to win the set, 25-18.
With many in the crowd heading out after two sets, the volleyball stayed high level between the teams. Holland and Shanahan combined for a beautiful point and Dobbins and Sackrey had strong blocks and hits in the middle. Great support from the bench filled in the energy in the gym and the set ended with a score of 25-18.
Thank you to Choate for another great rivalry game. And huge thanks to all the fans for their energy and support; it’s a wonderful opportunity to play in front of such a passionate crowd.
We have had a great regular season and we will be hosting a quarterfinal playoff match on Wednesday! Opponent and timing to be announced as soon as final seedings are released.