Excitement was in the air right from the get-go. Without senior captain Allie Difalco, who’s out with a concussion, the girls needed to step up against their Union Catholic rivals.
The Blue Devils opened up with a fault made by UC as the Vikings hit the ball into the net. The girls started off on fire as they jumped out to an early 6-0 lead
However, this run did not last long for the Blue Devils as the Vikings quickly responded with a few points of their own.
The back and forth battle was an indication that this game would go down to the wire. UC marched up the score board and took a 13-12 lead over the Blue Devils.
As UC pushed ahead in the set, the Westfield girls quickly matched the energy with consecutive key blocks and kills.This intensity brought the set score close with a 21-20 UC lead.
Coach Beverly Torok called a timeout with UC up 23-20 in hopes of a fight back. Ally Muller and the rest of the front row answered her prayers with back-to-back points to put the Blue Devils within 1 point.
However, the UC girls maintained their lead and won the first set 25-23.
The Blue Devils and the Vikings were trading points throughout the 2nd set. Westfield was outperforming the Vikings on the serves, but the Vikings front row was dominant. After a continuous battle, Westfield started to lead as they scored four straight making it 8-4.
Number 1 on UC, Rachel Williams, was lethal in the front row; however; Westfield was able to combat this due to their two-man blocking strategy that would force Williams to hit it high and out of bounds.
After another amazing Westfield serve, the Vikings were forced to call a timeout with a score of 11-5 in favor of the Blue Devils.
Building off their momentum, Westfield powered ahead 21-11, their energy unmatched despite UC’s large crowd. The Blue Devils won the second set 25-16 and forced a third set.
The pressure was on. The girls needed to come up big especially with their front row defense.
The Vikings quickly pushed ahead after the intermission and jumped off to a 6-1 lead. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils came back and no team could make a big jump to pull through.
After what seemed like a sure point for the Blue Devils, UC played the ball off the ceiling and ended up getting the point to make the score 14-11 UC.
The Blue Devil energy was there once again as the girls rallied back from a 13-9 deficit and tied it up at 14.
Despite the Vikings back and forth effort, the Blue Devils kept fighting back. Seniors Olivia Calandra and Muller made big plays in the front row and Westfield extended its lead to 18-15. Luckily, the girls hung on and secured a big 25-23 win.
Reflecting on the win, senior Olivia Calandra said, “I think this win really shows what we can do. High energy when we hype each other up and we make great passes.”
Sophomore Catie Carayannopoulos had the final kill to seal the victory for the Blue Devils.
When asked about her teammates’ response to the constant pressure UC put on them, Carayannopoulos said, “We just hyped each other up when we were down in the second set and were shaking off mistakes.”
The girls hope to continue their win streak against Elizabeth on Wednesday.
