After two long, hard sets, the game came down to one more. Trailing 12-15, it was time for Westfield to shine. The point began as the smack of the ball sent waves through the silent gym, the serve blazed through the air and fans’ eyes fixated on its game-defining aura. The Scotch Plains-Fanwood back line gathered the ball and prepared for an offensive. The point was an intense rally; the crowd was used to this. By this point in the match, each team had found their groove and had settled into a state of playmaking perfection. The difference would come down to grit.
Senior Abby Pevzner was the difference in this point and the set as a whole. As SPF sent the ball over the net into an empty space on the Blue Devil side, Westfield fans thought the point was over for sure. The SPF bench was getting up to celebrate. Nobody was close enough. Pevzner flew across the floor, extending her arm right before the ball hit the floor. It shot up into the middle, perfectly placed for a set. Pevzner hopped off the floor, backed into position and prepared for the kill. The ball sailed above the teams’ heads, held in the air with lethal potential. She jumped into the air and made contact with the ball. It reached solid ground on the other side of the net. A solo play. A complete turnaround. Westfield took the point. They had also taken the momentum.
Big plays, both good and bad, for Westfield and Scotch Plains, were defining factors in the Blue Devils’ 2-1 win over the Raiders. Fantastic offense was commonly met with a serve into the net on the next point for both sides of the competition. As the game progressed, these mistakes were seen more regularly coming from SPF. Westfield’s high caliber teamwork came together as the match went on and allowed them to take the victory.
The recent theme for Westfield has been slow starts in games they were favorites to win. Their second matchup of the season against SPF was no exception. Pevzner said, “I think one of our issues is we come in a little bit too confident but once we realize the score then we start playing together better.” They won their last match against SPF easily in the second set, and they are coming off an undefeated 2022 season and were undefeated this season until they lost to Union Catholic on Sept. 26.
Westfield found themselves down 1-4 to begin the first set. The Blue Devils clung onto SPF’s lead for a bit, but after a 7-2 run from the Raiders topped off by a loft shot over the Westfield front line, it was 10-15 Scotch Plains. Head coach Beverly Torok was forced to call a timeout. However, the timeout did not ignite Westfield’s flame, for they went on to serve several balls into the net coming out of the timeout, along with committing other simple mistakes to put SPF up 15-20. Although Westfield cut the lead down to two points, they were unable to dig themselves out of their self-inflicted hole and handed SPF the win in the first set.
Senior Karolina Bonn, throughout the game, even in their darkest moments during the first set, acted as a guiding voice, motivating teammates the entire time. “I think it really helps to encourage everybody because they know there’s always a voice who’s going to be there for them, no matter the points,” Bonn said. “You still know that somebody’s there. Somebody’s cheering.” The ever-present bonds between the players on the Westfield side was evident as they stayed strong for the duration of the contest. The second set would not be a repeat of the first.
With captain Caitlin Cabrales serving, Westfield looked to make a statement to start the second set: they were not being sent home by their rivals. On her second serve, Cabrales had an ace and set the tone for the rest of the set. Senior Grace Kim also was a major contributor to the Raiders’ demolition in the second set, for she unloaded several unreturnable serves. On the rare occasion that the Raiders were able to return a serve, they were often met with Bonn or another towering Blue Devil at the net. Westfield won the second set by 14 points.
The Blue Devil front line, led by Bonn, was unstoppable in the second. In the face of Scotch Plains’ strong attacking crew, they did not back down, meeting any shot at the net with indomitable ferocity. Bonn said that the defensive play “was really good, because they have a strong middle. But the fact that we were all ready to work around the big block and do our best to use our toolbox and fight for the points really helped and worked out at the end.” With each block, Bonn’s line seemed to get even stronger.
According to Torok, the stark difference between the first set and second sets, was that in the second set “We managed to find a lot of holes because our sets and our passes were better. We didn’t just have one option, and they were blocking our option in the first set.” She also credited the dominant second set to Westfield’s unforgiving serves.
Startlingly enough, even after an extremely well-played second set out of Westfield, the third set started just like the first: 1-4. Scotch Plains in the lead. The Raiders seemed to regain their confidence from the first set. With senior Genna Gauthier serving, Westfield proceeded to go on a 5-0 run, mostly fueled by mistakes from the SPF defense, bringing the score to 6-4. The next few points showcased each team’s best play of the match. It was crunch time and every player on the court knew it. Every Cabrales or Pevzner kill was reciprocated by a well-placed loft shot or impeccable serve to keep the score even. At 9-9, Scotch Plains went on a 3-0 run to force a timeout from Coach Torok. Coming out of the timeout, SPF’s lead extended to five. 9-14, Raiders. Westfield seemed to have fallen too far behind.
The game was not nearly over yet. Westfield regained possession of the serve with the score at 11-15. A few plays later, Pevzner’s acrobatic save. Immediately after that, a kill from sophomore Ava Gaspard. Following her kill, senior Chloe Wiedman made a near-impossible save with her foot to take the point and the lead for Westfield. 16-15. Pevzner said that these big plays “just got us more fired up. I mean, on a crazy play like that, with Chloe and her foot save, it just gets us a lot more energized.”
Westfield got their swagger back.
The Blue Devils pummeled SPF with hard kills partnered with precise serving, but the Raiders hung on. The game settled at 21-19, SPF trailing. Only a few more points to close it out. Westfield was the superior team and their indestructible resolve was highlighted by Scotch Plains’ late-game mistakes: serves into the net and hits out of bounds. Cabrales made a game-ending kill to bring the score to 24-20 where Gaspard finished it off with one of her own. The heart-stoppingly stressful match had finally come to an end.
On Saturday, Westfield plays in a triple-header starting at 2 p.m. at North Hunterdon against North Hunterdon, Hunterdon Central and Williamstown. A week following that is the county tournament.
“I think we’re really excited,” Bonn said about the county tournament. “I think we’re getting out of a little rut that we were in. We’re ready to push through and we have a triple match on Saturday. It should be exciting, and we’ll come out of it strong and ready to win counties.”
