Bringing the heat to the court, on Friday Sept. 26, JV orange volleyball played the Vandegrift Vipers. The two teams went head to head displaying their best skills and abilities, but in the end the Vipers took home the win in the third set. The game concluded at 2-1. 

“Going into the game we were very prepared,” Isabelle Call said. “We really worked hard, practicing serves and spikes, alongside communication.”

Starting the first set strong, the Warriors set the tone of the game with strong serves, and sharp kills. Consecutive accurate serves by Quinn Ewert ‘28 disrupted the flow of the game for Vandergrift defense causing them to blunder giving Westwood a large lead of 8-3 to open the game. The girls communicated well, something the team has worked to be better at throughout the season. The Lady Warriors showed composure despite being dealt hard spikes and serves, especially from the left side of Vandergrift’s front row. Continuing to weaken Vandergrift defense, Westwood expanded the lead to 10-3, causing Vandergrift to take a timeout. Although the girls were cruising, the left side of Vandy’s front row continuously hit balls that the Warrior’s back row was unable to defend, causing the Vipers to shorten the lead to 15-8. The Viper’s front row found gaps within the Warrior’s back row and took advantage of that, but that wasn’t enough to take the win. After a series of aces by Aurora Simmons ‘28, which proved crucial towards finishing out the set, and precise kills by Ewert the lady warriors claimed victory to the first set, 25-14.

“We should work on serve receive, deep corner defense and off blocker defense,” Simmons said. “But I think we did well on calling shots and hitting [good balls] to them.”

Following the first set, the Warriors started the second set a bit shakier than the first, having the Vipers concede 8 points against them within the first few minutes. The Warriors were struggling to find their rhythm, communication, and composure. Additionally, Viper offense put immense pressure on the Westwood backrow, causing many blunders and inability to return serves and spikes, giving the Vipers a lead of 9-14. Much like the first set, Westwood’s servers were on point and  closed the gap on the Viper’s lead, now only trailing by five. Ewert and Simmons played crucially both in the front and back row, including an amazing block made by Simmons tipping the ball right over the net giving the Viper defense no time to defend. Although the girls were struggling they remained calm and composed throughout the game, such composure was paramount towards their comeback. The Warriors began climbing the score board making their way to 20-17, as a result of great communication, and bringing frustration to the Viper backrow. Adjusting through rotations, the Warriors were able to close gaps and tie the Vipers at 21-21.However the Vipers managed to quickly find the strength to solidify their win with hard blows and shark serves. This resulted in a Westwood loss, 22-25, taking the two teams to the third set.

“We strung it together by relying on how we knew each other,” Lila Nicosia ‘28 said. “We also went back to the basics and didn’t do any fancy free ball plays so we could minimize our errors.”

Both teams began the third set fired up, ready to fight for the win. The Viper’s front row hitters came armed, firing a number of hard spikes and serves that Westwood was unable to defend, advancing 12-6 within the first few minutes. Westwood, however, wasn’t ready to give up; matching the intensity the girls brought the score board to 15-13 with teamwork and smart plays by the net. The two teams went back and forth battling for every point. Nicosia helped up front, making several tips over the net resulting in Westwood points. The front row started closing gaps, the girls continued to communicate well during the game, thus helping bring them to only a two point differential at 20-18. Pressure was up from both sides of the net, but a crazy spike by Call followed by a hard serve by Simmons helped to seal a tie at 21-21. Despite coming so close Westwood was unable to secure the set, and ultimately lost the set 25-23.

“We struggled with picking up hits in the second and third set but our blockers were there most of the time,” Simmons said.”Vandy’s backrow wasn’t great at picking up short balls so we were able to target them there”

The girls showdown against the Vipers was their third to last home game of the season. The ladies will return home on Tuesday Sept. 30, against Hutto, and finish the season on home court against Manor on Friday, Oct.24.