Blazers spiked by Falcons

SEPT 10, NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM-

Girls' Volleyball was defeated by the highly ranked Poolesville Falcons at home on Sept 10, winning one game and giving up three. Tight defense on both teams kept rallies short, points long, and wide leads few and far between.

After dropping the first two games, the Blazers managed to fight through an extremely close third game and win it, 27-25. In the third game, the ball changed possession more than twenty times before a Poolesville player attempted to return a spike from senior co-captain Carey Bartlett and flung the ball into the net, handing that game to the Blazers.

The first game of the match was neck and neck until the Falcons rallied and pulled ahead, 19-13. The Blazers finally regained possession after a Poolesville player hit the ball out, but after several dazzling spikes from seniors Rebecca Cho and Emily Ramsay, the Falcons slammed the ball past the Blazers and their chance to tie up the score was lost. Poolesville would win the game 23-25.

Blair lost the second game 21-25 despite key spikes from Cho and Bartlett as well as the dominance of senior co-captain Amanda Hsiung's jump serve. By the fourth game, the Blazers had been playing for close to an hour and a half, and were beginning to show fatigue. Faced with a 10 point Poolesville lead near the end of the game, the Blazers managed to gain possession after an assist and then a spike from Hsiung and Bartlett, respectively. Unfortunately, this play was followed by a hard Poolesville hit which flew past several diving Blazers and ended the game (15-25) as well as the match.

Coach Anne Garrison felt that despite the loss, the Blazers, whose record is now at 0-2, did well against a very talented Poolesville squad. "We were missing some little things, but Poolesville is one of the top-rated teams this year. I knew it was gonna be tough," she said. Garrison also pointed out that this year the Blazers are faced with a much tougher schedule than in years past.