Volleyball surprises Warriors

The Blazers dominated Sherwood High School, one of the best teams in the White division, on Oct 14, playing extremely well despite the loss of one of their best players and the implementation of a new formation. Blair defeated the Warriors 3-0.

The Blazers played an all around good game, receiving meaningful contributions from their veteran leaders and displaying some exciting new talents. Each athlete filled their role and communicated well, which lead the team to one of their most impressive performances of the year.

This surprising victory over a strong Sherwood team came despite the loss of junior starter Carey Bartlett, one of the team's best hitters, to a dislocated knee. The Blazers had to change their formation due to the loss and have moved up sophomore Christina Ji from JV to fill the vacant hitter position.

The team has also overcome limited time in the gym, which is being used by the football and soccer teams due to the restriction on outdoor activities. Blair has only had two hours of practice since the injury of Bartlett, meaning they have had very limited time operating within the new system.

Junior Amanda Hsiung turned in another amazing performance, providing momentum swinging kills and impressive spikes. She was aided by senior co-captains Jeanne Yang and Debby Man who both had solid games, contributing hard serves and consistent play.

The real surprise of the game was the performances of previously untested players. Junior Lauren Wong was in for most of the game and executed her passes and sets to perfection. Sophomore Tina Yang also had a good game, providing some much needed serves for the Blazers. New recruit Ji seemed to settle into her position as the game went on and was able to provide some offense.

Blair took the first game extremely easily, jumping out to a 14-0 lead. After a brief Sherwood comeback the Blazers finished the Warriors off 15-7.

The second game started out with Sherwood playing like the team their record indicates they are. However, after going up 8-4 the Warriors started to falter, losing the lead and the game 15-10.

The third game saw Blair jump out to another early lead and stay in front for much of the game. The Blazers put the Warriors away with a 15-10 victory.

Sherwood, who had only lost one match in the White division before they played Blair, struggled throughout much of the game with passes and kills. When they had scoring opportunities they had trouble putting the point away.

Junior Simone Viger played a huge part in keeping the Warriors' scoring to a minimum, coming up with numerous blocks throughout the match. She was satisfied with Blair's performance especially since they were heavy underdogs going into the match-up. "We were out of practice, missing a key player and using a new rotation with a different setter against a team that was supposed to beat us, but we stepped up," she said.

Coach Anne Garrison was very pleased with the Blazers' efforts as a whole. "We played extremely well as a team. One particular person was not the reason we won this match," she said.

The Blazers' match against Einstein, which was scheduled for Oct 9, has been postponed. An announcement will be made later as to whether the game will be played or not.