October 4th was a successful night for the Lady Dons. Aragon’s varsity volleyball team came out victorious against long-time rival Hillsdale Knights.
Despite close scores, the Dons won the first three sets 25-20, 25-19 and 25-21, giving them enough to walk out of the match with a win.
“We had a lot of energy in the beginning,” comments freshman Madison Campbell. “We’ve been playing a lot better than we have [previously] and I think that’s because of chemistry.”
A major factor to team’s win was starting out each set strong. Sophomore Abbygail Legaspi served nine serves in a row in the third set, giving the Dons a nine point lead which greatly factored into the win in the final set.
Junior middle blocker Lillie Tuivailala had a particularly strong game as well.
“Lillie got a lot of blocks,” says sophomore Samantha Wen. “[She] kept having a lot of hits that were to the corners, and got a lot of kills for us.”
Tuivailala had three shut down blocks for the Dons in the third set.
This year, senior outside hitter Melanie Moore has taken on a key role as co-captain. Moore played in all three sets of the match. She served seven balls, one of which was an ace, and had nine kills throughout the match. Four of these kills were in the first set, helping the Lady Dons gain momentum from the start of the game. Moore constantly hit to the corners, challenging the Lady Knights and succeeding in avoiding the opposing blockers.
In a game that pitted two similarly-skilled teams against each other, the Lady Dons were able to gain the upper hand. Hillsdale’s front row players hit less aggressively, but the back row’s consistent passing helped them hold their own. The Lady Knights particularly excelled at defense — their passes went to the intended target, making it difficult for the Aragons’ hits to result in a kill.
The Lady Dons, on the other hand, had more aggressive serves along with far more powerful hits, but were not as consistent in keeping these hits in the court.
“We weren’t playing as safe as we usually do,” explains Campbell. “We let go and had fun… we weren’t playing so timid.”
Though no one team shut out the other, what set the Lady Dons apart from Hillsdale was their energy. The players interacted with one another with great positivity and huddled after every point. This synergy was lost on the Knights side of the court, which was predominantly silent.
Aragon also played against Burlingame on Oct. 6, winning three sets 25-21, 25-23 and 25-18, and losing 26-28 in the second set. With their win, the Lady Dons improved to 6-2, they look to carry their momentum into their upcoming match against Menlo-Atherton on Oct. 11.
