Despite earning the first point in three out of the four sets, the girl’s varsity volleyball team was unable to pull out the win against Model on Wednesday and ultimately lost 3-1. Throughout the entire match, Model looked strong and the Lions had difficulty gaining momentum and putting back-to-back points together.
Though the team beat Model in an away game earlier this season, they came into the match expecting it to be nothing short of a battle. It didn’t help that they were missing two key starters sophomore Rachel Fagin and freshman Jordana Dauber. With the loss of those players, communication issues arose as people played different positions than they were used to.
“Communicating is not as easy as just saying mine or I got it because oftentimes, two people are calling in at the same time and the ball is falling in between them,” head coach Paul Finver said. “Getting that kind of rhythm going as a team is hard, you know, even when you don’t have different players in different positions.”
The Lions were behind from the very start, losing 11-4 in the first set which forced them to call a timeout to re-group. However,coming out of the timeout the Lions experienced a rotation issue and struggled to refocus going down 15-5. Model was able to maintain their control the rest of the set and won it 25-13.
“Everyone needs to stay calm, and when everybody is so one edge and people are hard on each other the team loses focus,” senior Miriam Goldel said.
The second set looked much different than the first, as the Lions came out to a quick 3-0 lead. Although Model rebounded, the Lions stayed in the competition, trading points with Model, keeping the set close sophomore Ellie Strisik had an ace, tying the game at 15 all. After multiple lead changes, it seemed as though the Lions could win as the score was tied at set at 21, however, in the final points Model took advantage of miscommunication on the Lion’s side and won 25-22.
“In terms of communicating that is definitely an area that we need to work on,” senior and captain Reut Skromme said. “But it has improved significantly since the beginning of the season.”
Throughout the entirety of the match, momentum proved to be a deciding factor and the Lions were able to take control of the momentum in the third set. They came out strong with sophomore Ruby Kotok serving, which gave the team a 3-0 advantage and they were able to take full control of the set winning 25-15.
The fourth set felt similar to the first two as the Lions went down quickly and Model clearly had control. Goldel tied the set at 6-6 with a block, however, that did not dent Model’s morale as they were able to strongly maintain control, winning 25-15.
“We had won before so we felt like we could do it again, but because of the different rotations and lineup, our communication was lacking,” Goldel said.
