Last Thursday, in an eventful game against Carlmont, the girls JV volleyball lost both sets. The game ended with two Woodside players injured despite a hardworking defense.
In the first set, the team struggled, according to players, following Carlmont scoring the first few points of the game. Carlmont showed confidence and a great deal of communication when on defense, according to Woodside players. While Woodside was working hard on defense, Carlmont managed to hit the ball into spots hard to cover.
“Carlmont is a really good school,” freshman setter Tama Remington said. “And we knew it was gonna be a tough competition.”
However, around five minutes into the game, freshman libero, or the back row player who helps run the defense, Audrey Payne went for a dive and ended up rolling on her arm. She was rushed to get treated at the medical room.
“Her hand twisted backwards and she couldn’t feel it anymore,” freshman outside Louise Lamure said. “We just found out that the middle bone in her hand had been broken in half.”
With Payne injured, the team had to pick someone who was going to play libero. Lamure added that it messed up their lineup as the libero is a key part of defense. Rules of volleyball say that you are not allowed to change liberos mid-set, so Woodside had to figure out what they could do, especially with no other liberos on the team. Eventually they were able to find someone to play in Payne’s position, but it made their lineup confusing.
“No one knew the rotations since we had to change them in the middle of the game,” Lamure said. “It was very chaotic.”
Even though they were down by more than 10 points, the girls had some stand out plays. One player who really stood out was Lamure, who had some great diving saves all throughout the set.
“Louise played great,” Remington said. “She was always fighting and she really tried her best.”
Throughout the first set, Remington had been making some great sets for her teammates, but her hamstring had been giving her some pain. Eventually she had to sit out and ice her hamstring before the end of the first set. Woodside lost the first set 7 to 25, but started off the second set strong by gaining the first three points in a row.
“In the second set we started working as a team,” Lamure said. “We were communicating more.”
The communication paid off as the points became longer and more competitive. Freshman Emerson Aiken had some great blocks up at the net and managed to end some competitive rallies back and forth, which was followed by Lamure getting two aces in a row. The girls lost the second set with a final score of 12 to 25, bringing the game to an end.
“Even though we lost we gave good competition and showed improvement throughout the game,” Remington said.
