Last Thursday, our Hornets Volleyball team matched up against a tough conference match with Wilmington Friends. The Hornets started out battling Friends point for point until 8-8. Friends' hitters began to find more holes in our defense and finished the set with a few scoring runs from the service line, winning 25-11. We battled on with a new blocking strategy and again led the Quakers early in the set. Big blocks by the Kirby sisters, Emma '23 and Sophie '21, made the Friends offense work. 5'3" middle blocker, Lexi Tarlue '24, surprised the Quaker offense as well with some blocks of her own. However, the Hornets again fell to the Quakers 25-14 in the second set. The third set was, arguably, the Hornets' best start of the night, breaking out to a 7-2 lead against the Quakers. Our serving wasn't allowing the Friends hitters to be set effectively, if at all. However, a service run by the Quakers in the middle of the set evened the score, and another run put them within striking distance of the win. The Hornets would not go away, scoring a few more points on serve and attack before we fell 25-19. This match demonstrated our best overall play so far, and the crowd rewarded us all afternoon with eruptions of cheers.
Freshman setter Caitlyn McGonigal '25 had 9 assists, 4 digs, an ace, and a block kill. Bri Gautier '23 lead the team offense with 4 kills and 2 aces, while also tallying 4 digs. Emma Kirby '23 helped on both offense and defense with 3 kills, 2 blocks, and 2 digs and, captain Nancy Evans '23 led the team on defense with 17 digs. Our team is currently 1-4 this season but is constantly showing signs of improvement each match.
In addition to a strong Varsity performance, our JV raked in some attention as well. Our JV squad played equally strong and never quit during both sets. There were a lot of new rotations the girls had to adjust to during games that they never went over in practice. Their ability to adapt to stressful situations made their coaches proud. They played with such great teamwork and determination to do better than the previous weeks. Captains have been trying hard to instill a tone of teamwork and good sportsmanship out on the court.
As our mighty herd refused to hang their hands, they entered the next match on Thursday, September 30, against Wilmington Christian with renewed passion and energy as they swept and won 3-0. While each set remained close, our Hornets' cool heads prevailed. Bri Gautier '23 and Emma Kirby '23 had 9 kills each, while setter Caitlyn McGonigal '25 had 23 assists and 8 digs, and Nancy Evans '23 had 25 digs and 6 aces.
With a record of 2-4, our girls face another strong conference opponent in Sanford at home Tuesday, October 5.
