Andover lost its opening game of the season 3-1 to Northfield Mount Hermon on Saturday. Andover won the second set 25-17 but lost the first, third and fourth sets 22-25, 21-25 and 21-25. “I think the team did very well against a strong team,” said David Yoon ’14. “We really came together as a team during the whole game. We came very close to winning all of the sets we played, but the games we lost were because of failure to make decisive plays at the last moment.” Alex Tamkin ’14 helped lead the team with a total of 11 service points and dominated the outside of the court. “I think our team’s main problem is consistency, mainly when it comes to spirit,” said Kade Call ’14. “We have huge spikes in enthusiasm followed by droughts. We were effective when we used our enthusiasm to our advantage, getting runs of points, but we need to learn to be more consistent. As long as we do that, I think we have the potential to be league champions.” Andover recovered during its second game of the season against Wilbraham & Monson on Wednesday when the team scraped out a 3-2 win. Andover won the first set 25-17, ending the set on a 9-1 run from a score of 16 all. The team, however, was unable to continue this momentum into the second set and fell behind early. Andover picked up the pace of the game and pushed through to tie Wilbraham 8-8 and 9-9. Co-Captain David Crane ’13 contributed a four point service streak that eventually tied the score 24-24. But, after a ten point exchange, Wilbraham secured the game 31-29. Although Andover started off ahead 7-5, Wilbraham fought hard and ultimately won the next set 25-18. Andover reversed the score in the following set, winning 25-18. In the last set, Andover regained its original energy and finished a highly-competitive match, securing a 18-16 victory. Libero Ji Tae Park ’14, who had 15 dig-saves throughout the Wilbraham game, said, “After the first, our energy that helped us win at first suddenly dropped. During the fourth set, we kept joking around in the middle of the game to keep our spirits up and our new confidence and energy helped bring us the last two wins.” Tamkin, who finished the match with 16 kills, made most of the team’s points from the outside. Tamkin also dominated service with 20 total service points and five aces. Middles David Yoon ’14 and Theo Agbi ’13 helped Andover clinch the win with Yoon’s three stuff blocks, as well as Agbi’s ten kills and 12 total service points. Crane also added 18 total service points to the scoreboard, including five aces and three kills. Andover will look to improve its 1-1 record when the team travels to Choate on Saturday in a pivotal match for the young team.
