Blazers succumb to Trojans

Sept. 22, NELSON H. KOBREN MEMORIAL GYMNASIUM—

Blair's varsity girls volleyball added another loss to their record with a humiliating defeat to the Gaithersburg Trojans tonight. The Trojans easily defeated the Blazers in three overmatched sets, 14-25, 15-25, and 15-25. Blair was unable to combat Gaithersburg's superior power, teamwork and endurance, extending Blair's losing streak to three and bringing their record down to 2-3.

From the start of the first set the Trojans presented themselves as a powerful and intimidating team. Their only mistake was continually serving and returning the ball out of bounds. Early on Blair was able to keep up with Gaithersburg, lagging only a few points behind and eventually going ahead 13-12 after Junior Felicia Olawuni blocked a Gaithersburg return. The Trojans soon took control and allowed Blair only one more point, ending the set 14-25.

The Trojans kept their momentum and took charge of the second set from the very start. The score was 1-8 before Blair was able to become competitive. "We put up a good fight," says Coach Heather Amell. "We played hard." Blair's score climbed slowly as sophomore Olivia Bozik and junior Alice Fan blocked many of Gaithersburg's returns. Fan and Olawuni both dived across the court attempting to save as many balls as they could. The Trojans however continued to fight and Blair was left behind. The Blazers lost their focus often and were unable to follow the ball. "Our eyeballs were not working," says Olawuni. "We needed to focus on the ball, not the cheering" of the Trojan fans. The lack of concentration gave Gaithersburg the advantage as they beat Blair 15-25.

Gaithersburg continued their dominance in the third set. Again the Blazers were slow out of the gate, unable to score while serving until they were already eight points behind. Sophomore Julie Brice served up a much needed ace which brought the Blazers up 6-13 and gave Blair some confidence. Unfortunately, confidence was not enough. Although the Trojans serves were often so powerful that they flew out of bounds, Blair was not able to take advantage and fill the widening score gap. Blair poor serving helped to keep Gaithersburg in control. Sophomore Julie Zhu and Fan barreled two aces over the net, but they were the only points the Blazers earned while serving. Gaithersburg finished the set and the night quickly with a victory of 15-25.

Zhu and Bozik regarded their third loss as a learning experience. "We learned a lot about ourselves today," explained Zhu. "We definitely improved, we're going to be more of a team," added Bozik. Junior Wendy Quintanilla concluded the night acknowledging the work the team still has in its future. "We did a great job but still need to improve many things."

The Blazers' next game is 7:00pm on Tuesday, September 27^th, at Sherwood.