On Wednesday, August 30, Archie Williams Girls Varsity Volleyball defended their home nest for the first time against Carondelet High School. Archie’s wings were clipped by Carondelet last season in a crushing 3-0 defeat. This along with the student sections energy helped Falcons soar through the competition.
Last season the Falcons took home the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Championship. Defending the state title was the only motivation that they needed to use during this game
“Keeping our team close helped our team last year. We weren’t the tallest or the most physical, but since we are really close, we were able to play together as teammates and just do the same thing this year,” said senior Reese Fraser.
The first two sets were extremely close going back in fourth in score. Both teams were winning several times throughout the sets. As Reese mentioned, they won these sets with a team effort. With hard-fought wins from the Falcons in both sets, the teams were tied up 10 times throughout the two first sets. The Falcons prevailed with scores of 25-22 and 25-20.
“It’s not over yet. Every player needs to just take a deep breath, focus up, and do their jobs,” Girls Varsity Volleyball coach Clayton Fraser said. “Also, make sure you are communicating loudly with the crowd noise.”
In the third set, the team had to go on a 4-0 run to come back from a 24-20 game point deficit.Ultimately winning 28-26 with a winning kill by senior outside hitter Lindsey Jones, causing the stands to rush to the court in celebration. As the first home game of the season, the atmosphere in the gym was electric.
“I hope it’s like this every match. I feel like the first game always has a big, big atmosphere,” Coach said
This team, formerly led by Elsa Snipes, who now plays for Arizona State’s beach volleyball team, looks toward their veteran’s presence to lead this team to victory.
“We played really well. It’s our first home game of the season, we had some nerves, but we have some veterans that came through,” Fraser said. “I just kept telling them that we are going to go on runs, they will go on runs, and everyone’s got to talk, everyone’s got to stay in it every second.”
The Falcons’ veterans helped bring the victory home, with Lindsey leading the team in kills with 19 and senior Katie Griffiths leading the team in aces with three. Sophomore Alyse Rosen showed the young talent that this team possesses by having a game high 15 digs.
Archie Williams kicks off the start of conference play, MCAL, at home Sept. 5 against Terra Linda High School.
