In their first home game of the regular season, Windham varsity volleyball showed they have what it takes to go up against tough teams. In a match that’s best three out of five sets; Windham forced a fifth set, but the Scots won this match, 3-2, at Windham High on Monday, Sept. 8.
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| Windham senior and team captain Sydney Harmon serves the ball over the net during the varsity volleyball home opener against Bonny Eagle at Windham High on Monday, Sept. 8. PHOTO BY MATT PASCARELLA |
In the first set, Windham, along with server senior captain Josephine Sibley put six points on the scoreboard quickly. Bonny Eagle had a few good serves too and was now three points behind the Eagles. Windham had strong volleying and soon it was set point. Bonny Eagle made a small comeback, but the Eagles won this set 25-21.
In the second set, it was close early on; Bonny Eagle took the lead. Windham fought hard, but Bonny Eagle was able to stay out in front. The Scots won this set 25-20.
Set three was similar in that Windham led the Scots early. The game was soon tied, but Bonny Eagle pulled away and won this set, 25-20.
“I feel like it’s so early in the season, this game was a good building block for us,” said Sibley. “We really gave it our all. I feel like we’re going to go far in the ... season. I think (this match) sets us up to know that we can sub people in and they can be equally as successful as our starters. Our team cares for each other, and that they’re going to cheer us on no matter what. Our serving was really good and our serve-receive just needs a little bit of work, but it’s progressively getting better every single season. Our biggest struggle is communication and trusting each other, but that’ll come over time.”
The fourth set was make-or-break, and it was a close one. Windham came out playing aggressively and took a six-point lead. Bonny Eagle was not far behind. The game was tied at 15, then it was tied at 23. The Eagles forced a fifth set as they won, 25-23.
“Our fourth set, we pushed and pushed; our scores kept fluctuating throughout the whole set,” said Windham senior captain Sydney Harmon. “Toward the end of the set we got together as a team and (knew) if we lose this it’s over, and we wanted to win. We kept pushing and pushing, but I think we were all really tired for the fifth set. Our communication was gone because we were so afraid of making mistakes.”
Bonny Eagle jumped out ahead in the final set with a 10-point lead in a set that ended at 15. Windham slowly made a comeback and did avoid being shut out. However, Bonny Eagle had a big lead and won the deciding set, 15-6.
“We yo-yoed a little bit in that match,” said Cloutier. “We had some technical things to clean up that stood out to me and some stuff we’ve been working on like block-coverage, not making the unforced errors ourselves. Our energy yo-yoed as well. In this game you’ve got to be mentally tough in order to pull through, you got to be able to roll through errors and ... let the last error go. That’s a tough thing to learn.”
Harmon said she was pretty happy overall with how things went, although they wanted the win, this match showed they were consistent in important areas of the court and they need to tighten some things up. <
