Yesterday, Westfield girls volleyball won their third consecutive sectional championship. This time it was different. This one meant more. With heavy hearts, the team stepped onto the court for a moment of silence to honor and remember WHS senior Brandon Genlot, a leader of the Westfield volleyball community who passed away on Nov. 11.
With the boys volleyball team in the stands to honor Genlot and support the girls team, the Blue Devils dominated Union City to win the sectional championship in two straight sets: 25-17 and 25-16.
After winning against Union City in the quarterfinals last season, the Blue Devils knew they could finish this match strong with another win. Senior Maddy Coen said, “[Going into the game] our team worked really hard practicing new drills last week and [this game] really showed the progress we made.” Additionally, senior tri-captain Catie Carayannopoulos said, “We scouted, we watched some of their film of the game they played against Columbia so we were really focusing on hitting the holes in their defense.”
Carayannopoulos said, “[Winning is] always amazing, I would say especially with this team because we started the season off pretty rocky so this win is just a testament to how we’ve grown throughout the season and how we have bonded as a team.” Carayannopoulos’s performance was congratulated by receiving a nomination from Big State Sports as the player of the game.
The first set started off strong for the Blue Devils as they went on a 12-0 run. However, many balls fell in the back line, showing a lack of communication amongst the team. Head coach Beverly Torok said, “We need to get some communication back, we had a couple of mishaps where we had miscommunication on the court and we also have to bring down the serving errors.”
The Blue Devils began the second set down for the first time all game. However, that did not last long as they quickly were able to tie the score at 3-3. Soon after, the Blue Devils began to run away with the lead, making the sectional championship begin to feel like a reality. “There has been a lot of talk about this season being a rebuilding season but I always thought we could do this and the fact that we did, I’m really proud, ” Coen said.
With just one game between the Blue Devils and a state championship appearance, Westfield has no plans of slowing down, looking to take their momentum all the way to a state title. Coen feels they “need to keep working together” and “stick through the tough times together to really go out and crush it.”
The Blue Devils are back in action Thursday, Nov. 14 for the state semifinals against Morristown away at 4:00 p.m.
