In their first home game, the Townsend Harris girls’ varsity volleyball team lost to Benjamin N. Cardozo, bringing their record to 3-2. Although all the sets were close, the girls lost two sets to one against the number one team in their division. Many Harrisites were in attendance to watch at the Wanda Nix Gym eager to catch their first glimpse of the volleyball team.
The first set of the game was determined by the closest margin. Both sides had issues with communication and service errors. But Cardozo was able to win the set 25-23. Leading the way for Townsend was Junior Lucy Lim who had 4 kills in this first set.
In the second set, Townsend came back determined to win the second set after such a close loss. As a result the girls won 25-18, handing Cardozo their first set loss of the season. In this set Lucy and Senior Bianca Dilan combined for 4 kills and Senior Suha Na Javeed had a crucial kill, which gave Townsend the momentum heading into the final set.
The Hawks would come up short in the end when they lost the deciding third set 25-17. Bianca and Lucy both had 2 kills (bringing Lucy’s game total to 9 kills) and Suha helped set up for these attacks (her game total was 9 assists). Other notable performances included Junior Emma Noblesala’s 14 digs and Senior Selina Feng’s 5 aces.
Coach Weinstein was thrilled with his team’s performance. He was extremely proud, stating that the girls were “phenomenal and played their hearts out.”
Weinstein also loved how the girls played as a team, saying that “when a team plays as a team and competes against a team like Cardozo, the team’s spirit is still high even with a loss.”
But the girls continued to make the mistakes that plagued them in their lose to Francis Lewis. A majority of these mistakes can be attributed to miscommunication because many balls were allowed to fall untouched on the Hawks’ side.
In addition, Sophomore Leann Senat believes that the girls should practice on blocking and receiving hard hit attacks because much of Cardozo’s success against the Hawks came on kills.
The Lady Hawks will have to make these improvements soon as their next match is a rematch with Cardozo on October 10.
