Girls' varsity volleyball falls to Hornets

NELSON H. KOBREN GYMNASIUM, Nov. 1—

The Damascus Hornets (7-5) defeated the girls' varsity volleyball team (4-10) in a three-set win on Senior Night by scores of 18-25, 20-25 and 21-25. Despite the outcome of the match, the Blazers were satisfied with their performance against top-tier Damascus.

According to Head coach Christopher Klein, Damascus is favored to win the division. Given that Damascus is a talented team with a strong record, he felt that his team played up to the challenge and did not give up. "We fought really hard, minimized our mistakes, and gave it all we could,” Klein said.

The first set started out evenly for both teams and the scores very close until about half way through the first set. Damascus was able to score four points in a row to take the lead. The second set was similar and Blair fell behind at the end of the set. In the third set, the Blazers stepped up their game and held off the Hornets. For the first part of the third set it looked like the Blazers might win the set, but Damascus managed to come back to win.

Going into the game, the Blazers knew that they were in for a challenge. "Besides Sherwood, this was the best team we've played. They weren't going to give us,” Klein said. Junior Jordyn Schroeder reiterated that Damascus would be a tough team to beat. "Damascus is really good, so we did a lot better than expected,” she said.

According to senior co-captain Nika Lilley, the Blazers used Damascus's faults to their advantage. "They made a lot of their own mistakes, and we took advantage of that,” she said.

Being the last game of the regular season, the Blazers recognize how much they have grown as a team over the course of the season. "We're communicating much better,” Shroeder said.

The Blazers will take on B-CC in their first playoff game, and have high hopes. "We're playing BCC, who we lost to before, but I feel like we've gotten a lot better,” Shroeder said. "They're beatable.”

Klein believes that based on Tuesday's performance, the Blazers will do well in playoffs. "I thought they were really competitive, I was really proud that they didn't get psyched out,” he said. "I think we're going to shock BCC.”

The girls' varsity volleyball team will play its first playoff game against B-CC on Friday, Nov. 4 at 5 p.m. at B-CC.