On Friday, Sept. 6, the Archie Williams girls varsity volleyball team took flight against the Acalanes High School Dons in their second home game of the season. The Falcons fought with high energy and strong defense in three tough sets, but unfortunately, the Dons seized the win, ending the game with a final score of 0-3.
The first set began with strong activity from both sides of the court. Taking turns scoring points, Acalanes soon took the lead, firing kills toward the Falcons. The Falcons stayed strong with committed defense and the help of sophomore hitter Lydia Battaglia, who scored many points off her hits, bringing the score up 8-13.
Acalanes scored a series of points, but with the encouragement of energetic cheers from the Archie Williams student section, the Falcons gained a few points back from the Dons, with points coming from Lydia and junior right-pin hitter Felicity Brown. Despite the Falcons’ increasing momentum, they began committing errors. With only a few minutes left in the set, head coach Lisa Hudson called a timeout, hoping to put an end to the errors, however the Falcons could not recover the set and lost 11-25.
“We are just going to go back to our basic skills to do our best to eliminate the unforced errors,” Hudson said.
The Falcons came off the second set with back-to-back points by senior team captain outside hitter Rainey Preston and junior middle blocker Mackenzie Mann to take the lead early on. Acalanes fought back to tie the score at 7-7. Junior setter Alyse Rosen served aces, allowing the Falcons to creep away with the lead 12-9.
As the second set progressed, the Falcons maintained a lead, and with a kill by Mackenzie, they reached game point 24-21. The Dons caught up and matched their score 24-24. The two teams fought back and forth, ultimately concluding the second set with another win from the Dons, 26-28.
“I think we played our game and should have won [the second set],” Hudson said.
Entering the third set with low spirits, the Falcons fell to the Dons early in the set. Cheers from the crowd, along with the Falcon chant from the student section and bench, brought Archie Williams back into the set. Acalanes fought back harder, resulting in the Falcons letting balls past them. Although the Falcons showed strong defense, the Dons took the win in the third and final set, beating them 18-25.
Despite this loss, going 0-4, the Falcons look forward to their last non-league game on Tuesday, Sept. 10, an away game at Windsor High School. To set goals for the rest of the volleyball season ahead of them, Alyse wants to encourage more team bonding, which she thinks will help them perform stronger in upcoming games.
“[To benefit the team’s playing, we need to grow] strong together off the court, because that reflects on the court,” Alyse said.
