“We aim to establish ourselves early on in the game in order to mark our presence,” said Logan Shepherd, a Westfield player. Westfield had dominated the first set against Belleville on Tuesday and looked to be the better team. However, this dominance did not last for long.
The miscommunication began in the second set. What began as a close set quickly became a drag for the Blue Devils. Veer Agarwal and Jason Billings attacked Belleville to the best of their abilities, but it was not enough to bring Westfield back into the set.
“We need to make less self-inflicted mistakes,” said Brayden Abo. “We gave them too many points from missed serves,” he added.
After several balls dropped due to no communication and all of the momentum shifting to Belleville’s side, Westfield lost the second set, 25-19. While this second-set loss discouraged the Blue Devils, it was not enough to put them away.
This sloppiness was a common occurrence for the Blue Devils in this match. Despite this, Westfield still found a way to jump to an early lead. Defending the kill played a key role in the Blue Devils’ early success at the beginning of the third set.
After several lead changes, the Blue Devils found themselves down 19-16. When going for a ball, Abo and Iskandar Mirtagavi collided with each other.
This error was due to a lack of communication. Nobody speaking or signaling for the ball. The Blue Devils’ unenergized style throughout this set led to Belleville going up 3 points and Abo exiting the match.
“We have to bring more energy into our next game if we want to beat East Orange,” said Shepherd.
After Abo exited the match, the Blue Devils went on a rally. The Buccaneers surrendered 4 consecutive points, putting a tie to the game at 20-20. In desperation of a reset, Belleville called a timeout.
The Buccaneers came out of the timeout reenergized, instantly regaining the lead and pushing all the way until they led, 23-21. Coach Ed Saggio then called a timeout in hopes that one last talk with his team would shift the momentum.
Despite the attempt to dismantle the momentum Belleville possessed, the timeout was unsuccessful as the Buccaneers had full advantage. Belleville closed out the third set and defeated the Blue Devils.
“Going into the tournament, we need to limit our hitting errors,” said Abo.
The Blue Devils open the first round of the North, Group 4 sectional tournament against East Orange on Thursday. Westfield is the No. 7 seed, and East Orange is the No. 10 seed.
