In one of its last chances to do so this season, girls volleyball found itself in a fight to win its first conference game of the season.
At home in Beardsley Gym on breast cancer awareness night on Wednesday—with Evanston donning custom pink jerseys, accessorized with pink bows and bracelets—the Kits gave up a quick lead to Glenbrook North in the first set before battling back to take a 12-9 lead. However, numerous unforced errors by the Kits throughout the remainder of the set put GBN back in front and led them to a 25-20 first-set victory.
Although girls volleyball endured long rallies and stayed competitive with Glenbrook North across two sets, the Kits fell 20-25, 20-25 against the Spartans on Wednesday night, but junior Sarah Skey is focused on the growth that the team is showing.
“Our energy and support for each other were really good and we were able to move past mistakes easily. [But overall], we just need to work on earning points and executing plays in a way that wins us rallies,” junior Sarah Skey said.
After the Kits lost the first set, the beginning of the second set began with continuous rallies as Evanston (3-21, 1-7 CSL) and GBN (8-13, 2-5) found themselves tied up, 3-3. Junior Lina Hauser and Skey led the Kits in defensive strategies as they blocked the Spartans’ many attempts to gain a win over the Kits.
“Throughout the game yesterday, and in general, we did a good job of keeping the energy high and staying positive while keeping each other disciplined. That’s the mix we shoot for,” Hauser says.
After some detrimental mistakes on Evanston’s side of the net, the Spartans led the remainder of the set, ultimately outplaying the Kits. For Hauser, she sees the biggest push for the team to take the next step is to move from staying in rallies to winning them.
“In the future, I’d definitely want to see more kills from all of us. We do a good job of keeping the ball in play, but terminating seems to be where we struggle,” Hauser comments, “ My goal for the team is to see sustained effort that wins a game. I want to see us win a conference game this year.”
Going into the rest of the season the Kits hope to have a winning record in their next tournament as well as pass the first round of playoffs.
The Kits take on Lake Forest in a non-conference game at home on Tuesday, Oct. 10, at 6:00 p.m..
