Freshman Poppy McKenzie spikes down the middle
On Sept. 24, the Aragon girls volleyball team (9-13 overall, 4-3 league) took a three-set victory against San Mateo (0-19 overall, 0-6 league).
This is the Dons’ first head to head against San Mateo, who were brought up a league into the Bay Division this season.
“Going into the game, we felt like we needed to do our best,” said senior outside hitter Natalie Huang. “No matter how they played, we needed to play our game.”
The Dons scored the first point of the set, but as the game continued both teams traded points with neither gaining a big lead. Then, Aragon made its first move with sophomore setter Devyn Lee’s aces and serves, bringing the lead all the way up to 12-4. In the first set, Lee had an impressive total of 16 points out of serves. Later, San Mateo struggled with inconsistent returns: double touches, hitting errors (outside the antenna), and overhitting. The first set ended 25-6 in favor of the Dons.
“[After the first set,] we all…needed to continue the same mindset,” Huang said. “We couldn’t overlook that we just beat them [25-6]. We just had to be like 0-0: a completely new start.”
The Dons scored the first two points of the second set, but San Mateo gained momentum even as Aragon led 11-5. Despite this, the Dons were able to quell the momentum thanks to senior outside hitter Sophie Rubinstein’s powerful kills and skillful tips against San Mateo.
“[As a senior,] I just want to spread what I’ve learned over these four years to the…underclassmen,” Rubinstein said. “[I want to] show them what it’s like to be a leader; how important it is to be the voice of Aragon volleyball, and … keep everyone together.”
Around the turning point of the second set, the Dons had some hiccups–service errors, overhitting, and hitting into blocks, which decreased the lead down to 15-11. Nevertheless, Aragon quickly turned around the tide finishing strong at the end of the second set with freshman middle blocker Poppy Mckenzie scoring off a corner shot, and the set ended with a score of 25-15.
“Poppy is our freshman starter,” said Assistant Coach Diean Hala’ufia. “She has been a great addition to our team. She plays middle and has great energy.”
The third set was the most tightly contested with San Mateo yet again building up their momentum.
“They finally came alive, and they did do a lot of good things,” Hala’ufia said. “They’re just a very young program that will eventually get there.”
San Mateo took their first lead in the game at 1-2 after a line out by Aragon. Aragon had a solid defense, but the same can be said of San Mateo’s offense, with strong kills that made use of Aragon’s miscommunication errors. The San Mateo bench continued to agitate the Dons by hyping up their team, bringing the lead all the way up to 4-8.
“We always have stuff to work on,” Huang said. “Challenges were some miscommunication here and there, and some drop balls.”
Aragon got back to their rhythm with senior right-side hitter Andrea Kunkel’s direct kill from a soft hit, and an ace by Rubinstein, tying the score to 8-8. Although Aragon kept building the lead, rallies were getting longer, and players were fighting with fatigue in the third set. Aragon kept going with a laser beam hit by another senior all-rounder Shannon Bullard, and kills that froze San Mateo: 20-13. The game point was a long rally that San Mateo kept holding onto, but Huang finished off with a strong kill, ending the set with 25-14.
Head coach Annette Gennaro-Trimble hopes to become the Central Coast Section champion third year in a row, with the previous two years going back-to-back.
“We have eight new players this year, but we still have our core that was on the CCS finals team last year,” Gennaro said. “They know what the expectations are for my program, and they know how to get those eight new players ready to go before we hit CCS.”
Aragon will take on Carlmont (7-7) on Oct. 15 at 5:30 p.m.
