Senior Brianna Grant setting the ball up for senior Irma Kurtag. Photo by Alexis Brown.
The Malden High School girls varsity volleyball team comes one step closer to winning the Greater Boston League after beating Everett in a 3-0 sweep on Sep. 28, 2015. What started off as a close match, soon turned into an obvious Malden victory. A lack of communication on the Everett side combined with the exceptional teamwork by MHS’s players, led Malden to a 25-8 win in the first set and a 25-11 win in the second.
The rotation of different skilled servers on the Malden side created an impeccable game plan that could not be beat. Seniors Michelle Huang, Pema Kunsal and Merjem Rizavancevic all shared multiple aces. Senior Victoria Tortora also had a standout performance that helped give Malden an advantage over their opponents. Tortora saved Malden many points with her multiple stuff blocks as well as made them with her successful kills.
Sliding to their knees, the Malden girls robbed Everett of almost all their spikes. Many volleys back and forth ended with a successful Malden point. “Good communication and teamwork is key in volleyball and that is why [the team worked] so well with each other,” explained Kunsal. Both communication and teamwork was demonstrated by Malden throughout all three sets.
In the third set both teams decided to change up their starters and bring in fresh players who had yet to play in the match. As the players began, it was soon obvious that Everett was not going down without a fight and the final set would be the closest of the day. Malden took the lead right away leading 4-0, but soon Everett caught up to take the lead. The Malden starters cheered loudly from the sidelines, encouraging their fellow teammates. Everett won the most points they had in the course of the entire match and soon the score was 19 to 15 where Everett had the advantage and was ready to put the set to rest.
However, the Golden Tornadoes were not going to be defeated without giving it their all. They never gave up and continued to use their communication skills and tactical plays to catch up to their opponent. Soon the score was tied at 21 and before Everett could realize it, they began to fall behind Malden once again. Malden went onto win this final set 25-22, ending the whole match 3-0.
This match was a successful win not only record wise, but also for the team as a whole. The players had to work hard together to become victorious. There was no player out on the court that did contribute to the team’s win. After their victory, Malden Mayor Gary Christenson expressed over the social media site Twitter that “it was the best kind of win because when [he] asked who was the Most Valuable Player [of the match was], the response was ‘the entire team.’”
The team is now 3-0 in the GBL and 7-2 overall. If they continue to play at this pace not only will they be able to reach all their goals for this season, but they will easily exceed them.
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