Photo courtesy of Maggie Winters
Theo Severud
Sports Reporter
The Newton South Girls’ Volleyball team defeated Framingham in three sets this Monday, October 15th.
The Lions had a slow start in the first set, with the game opening with the score at a close 3-4 in favor of Framingham. But, South was then able to take control of the set, running up the score to 9-4 to take an initial lead.
After dropping a few points, bringing the score to 9-7, sophomore Sabrina Ishanyan completed nine consecutive serves to carry their lead to 18-7. After some back and forth play the score rose to 21-12 and the Lions were able to continue their strong form, closing the set 25-15.
For the opening of the second set, the Lions did not seem to carry over the intensity from the previous exchange with them, opening with a slow-paced play that brought the score to 6-6. From here, they were able to find their rhythm and take a lead of 13-9.
Captain Maria DiNisco then lead the team to an eleven-point lead after going on a seven-serve streak, making the score 20-9. The remainder of the set had a close back and forth contest that ended with a score of 25-14 in favor of the Lions.
South’s improved serving over the latter half of their season has been pivotal in their success.
Captain Phoebe Blumberg noted this after the game.
“Serving is one of the most crucial fundamentals in volleyball. The chances of winning a volleyball game when your team has great servers rockets up, and I believe that we have been winning more and more games because we’ve dialed in our serving so much,” Blumberg said.
Once again, the third set opened with slow play from the Lions that allowed for a tied game at 5-5. They quickly regained confidence and control of the set, taking the score to 12-6, maintaining the intensity until they closed out the final set, 25-16.
Throughout this game, although Newton South dominated each set, they seemed to struggle out of the gate, allowing Framingham to either lead or be tied after the first ten scores.
Captain Maria DiNisco commented on these slow starts.
“When we start off slow, it is usually because we have the mindset that the opposing team is worse than us. We sometimes play down to lower level teams in the beginning, but after a certain amount of points, we start playing to our own level. Volleyball is a mindful game and playing to our capability no matter the skill level of the other team is key in how well we play,” DiNisco said.
The Lions have neared completion of their season turn around, with a current record of 7-8 and having almost secured a playoff spot.
