Blazers lose first to Quince Orchard

An injury-plagued Blair Coed Volleyball team (5-1) suffered its first loss of the season today, 6-15, 12-15, in a morning game against division foe Quince Orchard.

From the first serve, it was quite apparent that the Blazers were not up to their A game. Quince Orchard jumped to a 1-6 lead due to three aces and an illegal rotation call on Blair.

After a timeout, Quince Orchard extended its lead to 3-12 due to inconsistent setting by senior co-captain Jennifer Alyono and net calls on senior Aric Lin and junior Jeffrey Jabonete.

The Blazers attempted to rally back with a three point run, but the Cougars finally put away the match at 6-15.

In the second game, the Blazers seemed to shake off some of their first game jitters, but were only able to take the lead once at 10-9. The Blazers were much more aggressive than in the previous game, with several kills by senior co-captain Lan Le and sophomore Amanda Hsiung.

Quince Orchard retook the lead at 12-14 when Coach John Mott called a time out. However, the Blazers had already used up their two time outs for the game, and were thus penalized a match-ending point.

One reason for Blair's poor performance on the court today was a lack of manpower. "We only had three boys," said Hsiung. "We weren't up to our full strength."

Not only did solely three of Blair's seven boys come to the game today, but two of them, Le and Jabonete, suffer from shoulder injuries. These injuries clearly bothered the two hitters, as the Blazers often resorted to rolling or tipping the ball, rather than attacking it, as in their previous matches this season. Jabonete even resorted to serving underhand.

"We played so below our potential that it didn't matter what they put up," said Alyono.

Still, the Blazers do not expect the loss to hinder their winning mentalities. "We're going to win the rest of them," said senior Christie Chew.