The Wolverines celebrate a big point by Navaeh Dawnrich in a 3-1 win over Westbrook on Saturday, Oct. 18 during Homecoming Weekend in Wiscasset. (Mic LeBel photo)
The Wiscasset girls volleyball team beat Westbrook 3-1 before a large crowd on Saturday, Oct. 18 at the Wiscasset Community Center during homecoming weekend. After the match was tied 1-1, the Wolverines persevered to win the key third set and then won the fourth set to clinch victory.
The Wolverines won the first set 25-23 before the Blue Blazes bounced back to win the second set 25-17. Wiscasset responded to the challenge by jumping out to a 9-2 lead in the third set. Westbrook came storming back and knotted the third set 21-21 before the teams traded one point leads until the score was tied 25-25. As a team needs to win by two points, play continued until a squad got a two-point advantage. Wiscasset trailed 26-25 before winning three points in a row to take the set 28-26. The Wolverines closed out the match by dominating the fourth set 25-13.
Unlike all the previous matches this season for the Wiscasset Morse cooperative team, which have been played at Morse High School, the Westbrook match during homecoming was hosted at the Wiscasset Community Center. The team expects to play their future home matches in the gym at Wiscasset Middle High School, which has been in the process of renovations and unavailable this fall.
“The atmosphere at the community center was fire,” said Wiscasset head coach Julie Jones. “I’m still receiving comments from local community members telling me how exciting it was to see volleyball and how they never knew how competitive it is.”
Jones said the team employed a different strategy in their serve receive game that was key in the win over Westbrook.
“Ella Burkhardt was a blocking machine on the net, and Emily West was wiping the floor making sure nothing drops,” said Jones. “Olivia West brought in her typical serving run.”
The Wolverines finished their first regular season as a varsity program with an 8-6 record, which earned them the fourth seed in the upcoming Class C playoffs. The team will play 5 seed Wells on Friday, Oct. 24 at Morse High School at 5:30 p.m.
“I’m super proud of the girls for doing so well in our inaugural season,” said Jones. “It will be a tough match against Wells on Friday, but we will prepare the best we can.”
NYA 3 – Wiscasset 1
The Wiscasset volleyball team lost to NYA 3-1 on Wednesday, Oct. 15 in Yarmouth. The Wolverines dropped the first set 25-20, won the second 25-21, lost the third 25-19, and then lost the fourth set 25-13.
Here are some more photos from the event:
