Week #9 - Varsity Badgers Compete at a High Level at Quantico

Varsity Girls Volleyball took on the top two teams in the conference this week, and played at a high level in both games. After travelling to Highland on Tuesday, the Badgers took on Quantico today, currently in first place in the GPAC. The Badgers came out on fire - Maya had a sequence of aces, hitting the ball directly at the opposing libero. As the Quantico coach said to Sofia - "I told you this last year, too... You are simply awesome." Case in point: Sofia diving on the floor to set Lola on the left side. Quantico was able to return it, our talented squad of back row defenders passed the ball to Sofia again. Somehow, she's back on her feet, perfectly setting Lola for a kill right down the middle.

 

The Badgers were up 7-1 early, and they never gave the lead back. Claire's perfect serves landed right in the middle of the floor, Elisabeth had a series of blocks, and Tandem showed off their killer instinct as Lola served out the first set and Tandem won 25-20.

 

Despite a double-digit deficit in the second set, Emory battled back. She had consecutive hits at the net for points, and was also very effective at the service line. The Badgers forced Quantico to use all of their timeouts as Sofia went on a lengthy service run, Althea showed off her skills at the net, and Ella was excellent defensively in the back row. The Badgers cut the lead to one, but Quantico got ahead with a serving run of their own, and won the second set 25-20.

The Badgers refused to quit. With powerful hitting on the other side of the net, Lola dove to save the ball and keep it alive. Claire got a hand on it, and Sofia bumped it over on three. When Quantico returned the ball, Elisabeth smashed it over the net from her position in the middle. Quantico went on a run that was interrupted by Maya hitting the ball so hard across the court that it knocked over the opposing defensive specialist. Quantico took the third set, but Tandem's hustle was on point.

 

All four sets were tight, and in the fourth set, Tandem was down eight early and battled back to cut it to four. They'll ride their momentum into the final week of the regular season - two non-conference contests. The Badgers wrap up their GPAC schedule in third place. The playoffs tentatively begin on Monday, October 27. 

 

The Badgers play at WCDS on Monday at 4:30, and then at Miller on Thursday at 5:30.