The sharp blow of the referee’s whistle pierced through the stands. Timeout Westfield. Up two, going into the final points of the third set, head coach Beverly Torok gave out high fives of encouragement as they retreated off the court to regroup.
Inside the huddle, Torok told her players, “Let’s get a perfect pass. Let’s focus on the holes and communicate.” And that they did, for captain Caitlin Cabrales was set up with a perfect pass and smacked a powerful kill coming out of the timeout, which was followed by a deafening block from junior Keira Deignan to all but seal Westfield’s victory.
Westfield did not cede a single point to Elizabeth coming out of the timeout and declared victory in the game after a close brush with defeat.
The Blue Devils came out slow in the first set, seemingly still in a funk from their loss on Tuesday against their rival, Union Catholic. In fact, Westfield did not take their first lead until the scoreboard read 9-8. This early comeback was sparked by senior Grace Kim when she entered the court to serve. “I just wanted to get it back quick so we could bring the energy up and get the win,” said Kim.
After 9 consecutive points with Kim serving, the Blue Devils looked dominant. They took a 25-15 win in the first set and looked to carry momentum into an easy second set.
However, Elizabeth’s star outside hitter, Aries Fontaine, stood in their way.
“We knew Elizabeth had one stellar outside hitter, and they went to her 90% of the time,” said Torok. “She hits back row, she hits front row, and she’s also a big block, so that shut down our right side hit a little bit.”
Fontaine’s efforts combined with a multitude of Westfield errors led to a sloppy start to the second set. Elizabeth ultimately capitalized on Westfield’s errors and won the second set 25-22.
Cabrales was disappointed in how the second set played out: “I think overall we just had to clean it up… we just kind of got lazy.”
For the first time in the match, Westfield began their set strong. They began the third set 12-5, and it seemed like they had no intention of letting Elizabeth back in. However, Westfield committed a slew of errors and found themselves leading by just two in the closing points of the set. It was then that Torok called the timeout to seal the game for the Blue Devils.
Cabrales said, “We just have to make sure we’re keeping the energy up. We got lazy, and we just had to refocus. And I think in the third set, we did what we had to do and refocused.”
The Blue Devils are looking to use this win to regain momentum after the unfortunate end to their two-year-long win streak earlier this week. This win also puts Torok one win closer on the road to the coveted 500-win mark, which she is expected to reach this season.
