In what’s becoming an annual tradition, the girls’ varsity volleyball team won 3-0 against the Wilton Christian Patriots, Sept. 22.
Last season, the Cavs beat the Patriots 3-0 as well.
Wilton Christian did not have a libero and had only six players compared to Country Day’s 13.
The Patriots did have three Wilton Christian boys who were assistant coaches, handling the Patriots’ line-up and tracking stats, but they gave little advice to the players or commentary on the game.
The Patriots had the first serve in the first set, but SCDS almost immediately regained possession. After the Wilton Christian coach called a timeout after less than two minutes of play, junior Alexa Mathisen went on a five-point serving run, and soon after sophomore Kyra Petersen went on a six-point serving run. The Cavs easily took the set, 25-9.
A few times in the beginning of the second set, the Patriots shanked the ball to the back of the court where they would try to make really powerful passes to get it back to the net.
Eventually, they recovered their control and were able to set up more three-touch plays. But the Cavs still beat the Patriots, 25-11.
In the third set, sophomore Katia Dahmani, the libero, did not sub in for senior Jenny Kerbs, which she usually does. Atypically, Kerbs played all the way around even though she is normally a front-row player.
“S.O.S.,” Kerbs mouthed at coach Jason Kreps as she took her new position at the back of the court.
A couple times during the third set, the score was tied, but Wilton Christian never surpassed SCDS. Whenever the Patriots got close, the Cav players would get quieter.
Kreps had to remind a few players several times to adjust their positions and move forward because the Patriots’ serves were short.
Junior Isabelle Leavy had a five-point serving run toward the end of the set, which the Cavs won, 25-20.
Throughout the match, the Patriots cheered each other on, but there was a non-stop flow of encouragement from the Cavs on the bench that made up for the Cavalier crowd’s lack of enthusiasm similar to their Sept. 18 match.
“The crowd has been quiet because the games haven’t been very exciting, and the other team isn’t at the same skill level (that) we are at, so it is hard to be excited about a game that isn’t interesting,” sophomore Yasmin Gupta said.
During the school day, varsity players wore black or dark-colored dresses. Co-captain Alexa Mathisen said that she came up with the idea for the whole team to wear dresses when she and sophomores Annya and Katia Dahmani realized that they could not wear the tie-dye shirts they made at their team bonding sleepover. The Dahmanis and Mathisen were unable to wear their shirts because it is Octagon tradition to dress up when the print edition is released.
“We want to do something together on game days, and this seemed like the best solution,” Mathisen said.
The Cavs play Wilton again in mid-October.
The girls’ next match will be at Sacramento Waldorf high school against the Waldorf Waves (1-2) on Wednesday, Sept. 22, at 6 p.m.
—By Sonja Hansen
