Playing in front of a fantastic crowd from both schools on Choate Day, Deerfield volleyball hosted a strong Choate squad and earned a 3-1 win on Saturday morning.
After a short, pre-match ceremony to recognize seniors from both teams (thank you class of ‘24: Sabina Frosk, Margot McAuliffe, Loran McGruder, Evie Mokarow, and Emily Rice along with manager Ephraim Tutu), Choate was able to get out to a small early lead with their good hitting and strong defense. Deerfield closed that gap later in the set, but Choate was able to use smart serving to take the set, 21-25.
In the second set, it was Deerfield who got the momentum right away and used it to build a lead that got as large as 19-10 on the strength of blocking from Harmoni Dobbins ‘26, Sophie Kamil ‘26, McAuliffe, and Georgia Ball ‘25. Undeterred, Choate closed the gap to 19-17 before Deerfield was able to get back into a rhythm and close out the set, 25-18.
The third set saw Deerfield get out to a small lead (helped by outside hitting from Mokarow and Evelyn Kunde ‘26 as well as excellent defense from Frosk, McGruder, and Rice). It stayed close until wnt on a few service runs that were answered by Choate until Deerfield won the set, 25-21.
Both teams continued to play excellent defense in the fourth set which meant long, exciting rallies and great volleyball. A long service run from Rice pushed Deerfield out to a lead of 11-5. Charlotte Coody ‘26 and Greta Trapp ‘25 did a fantastic job as setters running the Deerfield offense and finding gaps to exploit. Frosk had another service run that took the lead out to 22-13 and while the Boars battled all the way to the finish, it was Deerfield who was able to take the set and the match, 25-19.
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.