Eva Pace, Reporter
@espcourant
On their home court, the girl’s volleyball team took on Brien McMahon on Friday, September 25 for the team’s fifth game of the season. Despite the long fight to win the game, the Rams came away with a loss with the score being 25-11.
Coming off of a win against Stamford High School, the team was confident that this match would end just as with the same result. “We walked onto the court knowing we had so much potential, especially after our game against Stamford where we really played up and achieved,” senior tri-captain Julia Deney said.
Brien McMahon is a team that has proven to be tough to beat, and last year’s loss worked as motivation for the girls to win this year’s game. “Last year, it was not so good because Brien McMahon was one of our first games and we hadn’t really come together as a team, and we had the same problem this year as it was also one of our first games,” senior tri-captain Sara Brindisi said.
The team was surprised that the game didn’t turn out as well as they’d hoped, and they yet again lost against the Senators. “We really thought that we were going to come back and win, but we weren’t on our A-game, and in general we weren’t in sync as a team,” Sara said.
Girl’s varsity coach Kim Palmer thought Brien McMahon stepped onto the court on Friday better than they had ever before. “Brien McMahon is a very good team in the FCIAC, and has gotten progressively better over the last few years,” Ms. Palmer said. “That game was probably the best that I’ve seen them play.”
In order to prepare for this game, the team practiced as usual, but also worked on a few specific components of the game. “We practiced like any other game, working on all of our skills from passing to blocking and hitting, and we hopefully carry that over into the teams that we are playing. Success comes from practicing both what we do well and also what we don’t do well,” Ms. Palmer said. “For Brien McMahon specifically, we worked on picking up digs and receives.”
Despite the loss, Ms. Palmer has high hopes for the team in the future. “We fell a little flat on Friday because the busyness of the school week prior put a bit of a toll on us,” Ms. Palmer said. “We can certainly play better than we did. We have some great kids that are eager to get better, and put in the time and effort not only in practice but also off the court.”
Julia spoke about how the team needs to play in the its next games in order to win. “I think for future games we really hope to get back to that level of really working together, being loud on the court, and doing our best,” Julia said.
All in all, the Rams are sure they’ll be a force to be reckoned with in the FCIACs. “I think that this season in the FCIAC there are a lot of teams we can compete with, and hopefully we can turn some heads moving forward,” Ms. Palmer said.
The group is confident that it can change the way they play as a team in the future. “We certainly didn’t play our game on Friday, but that game doesn’t dictate where we’re headed,” Ms. Palmer said. “It’s a matter of putting our foot forward, moving on, and learning from the experience we had against Brien McMahon.”
