Photo courtesy of Varsity Vantage

Westfield defeated Kent Place 2-1 in a close match Wednesday afternoon. With this win the Blue Devils improve to 3-0 and remain undefeated. 

This was Westfield’s first game without Catie Carayannopoulos, who was injured in the third set of the first game of the season. “It hurts not having Catie. She’s a tremendous blocker. A big presence on the court. She is high energy,” said head coach Bev Torok. “Her loss hurts us deeply as a team, but we’ll make changes and move on. That’s what you do with injury.” 

With this big loss to the team the Blue Devils needed to come out strong. Westfield scored first but shortly fell behind 2-6 during the first set after a string of unforced errors. After a few points against the Blue Devils, coach Torok called a timeout and the team regrouped. 

Westfield came out of the timeout hot with a kill from the towering senior, Karolina Bonn. However, the Blue Devils could not form any momentum following Bonn’s great play, as almost all the ensuing points, decided by long rallies, ended with Kent Place’s bench cheering. The Blue Devils, once behind by 10, went on a run to make the score 20-24 led by senior Genna Gauthier from the service line. With the set on the line, the score deficit proved to be too large for the Blue Devils to surmount. 

The second set began immediately in Westfield’s favor after Kent Place botched their first serve. Westfield drove up their lead to 4-1, but then gave up multiple points in a row and found themselves down by one. With the score close at 8-7, Westfield took the lead back after the Dragons hit the ball out of bounds. 

The Dragons called a timeout, hoping to reestablish their first-set dominance, but hit the ceiling and forfeited the first point after the timeout. The Dragons were able to recover, though, and Westfield found themselves down 12-16, even after the Blue Devils performed two clutch blocks during the rally. 

After the libero for the Dragons served the ball out,  another error followed and the set was tied at 18. With an expert kill from star player Caitlin Cabrales and another error by Kent Place’s libero, Westfield won the second set.

The final set began with a long rally. Kent Place won the first point, but the Blue Devils made them earn it. Westfield won the next four points, but gave up the next few to find themselves down 9-12, despite countless acrobatic saves and passes from Giuliana Gallo, Westfield’s libero. 

The Dragons displayed their prowess with seemingly endless blocks, but the Blue Devils refused to quit. The Blue Devils continued to chip away at the Dragon’s lead, and won three points in a row, led mainly by efforts from Gallo and Cabrales.

Then, junior Keira Deignan had a massive block to tie the game at 20. Kent Place hit one of the low hanging basketball hoops on their own side, and then hit it out of bounds on the next play to cement Westfield’s late lead. The third set ended 25-23 with the Blue Devils winning the game.

Deignan stepped up after Carayannopoulous’s injury and led the Blue Devils with four successful blocks to help win this match. These came at pivotal moments throughout the game. “It felt kind of surreal because I’ve always thought about playing varsity and this is my first year. I’m glad I was able to use my height to help out the team,” Deignan said. 

The Blue Devils look to continue their undefeated season in their next game at Ridge on Monday at 5:30. With such an impressive performance led by powerhouse seniors it looks like it will be an exciting match for Westfield.

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