Although girls volleyball showed signs of promise at times on Wednesday night, the Kits were outplayed by Niles West in Beardsley Gym, 17-25, 13-25.

When the first whistle was blown, Niles West (1-4) immediately jumped out to a 6-2 lead. Evanston (2-8) responded shortly to cut the Wolves’ lead to 7-6, but powerful kills throughout the first set from Niles West’s outside hitters were too much for the Kits to handle. The Wolves easily managed to keep their lead throughout the remainder of the first set, propelling them to a 25-17 win going into the second set. 

Hoping to gain some momentum after a quick huddle, the Kits brought themselves to within two, trailing 10-12 midway through the second set. However, numerous mishits by the Kits on the receiving end of Niles West’s serves disrupted their flow, sending the Wolves on an 11-3 run, and an eventual 25-13 second set victory.

Head coach Paris McFall emphasized that his team was too reactive on the receiving side of the serve.

“I try to tell the girls a lot that when they make an error, they can’t be super reactive to the very next ball,” said McFall. What happened to us is that we would have miscues on serves that would [go untouched] and land in, but the next [play], we would play balls that were actually sailing out of bounds because we were afraid to be aced again. We were prioritizing being more or less reactive, instead of just trying to reset after [each point].”

The Kits mustered only two kills the entire night, with junior Kylie O’Connor and senior Isa De Los Reyes providing for the Kits in that regard.

“We really need to work on serve and receive,” said junior Lina Hauser. “That’s going to be something that we really focus on in practice—our first contact of the ball and then just putting the ball away.” 

Evanston will look to get back in the win column against Maine South on Tuesday, September 12, at 6:00 p.m..

Editor’s note: An older version of this article referenced this game as one that was in conference. However, while Niles West used to be in the Central Suburban League South conference, the Wolves aren’t this year. The Evanstonian regrets this error.