Isabel Aguirre ’08 goes up for a kill. PHOTO/Ian Morris

Girls Varsity Volleyball’s progress up to midseason promises good things for their continued success later this fall. The team has not only defeated Hopkins School, Philips Exeter Academy, St. Paul’s School, and Loomis Chaffee School, all compelling rivals in New England Championship, but also improved dramatically since the preseason.

The team’s success can be attributed in part to a powerful backbone of three All-New-England finalists: Isabel Aguirre ’08, Bridget Vaughn ’08, and Renee DeBruin ’08. As Mr. Dormandy, the head coach of the squad, had expected, these three veteran hitters are the vital core when the team faces tough opponents. “They are confident and wise enough to think about their ball placements while playing,” he explained. The team also has other players with great potential, including Mary Foster ’10 and Carly Evans ’09. “They are still developing by watching the veterans. But they still get a decent amount of playing time. They are not big storms but we have high hopes for them,” said Coach Dormandy.

Roster Flexibility

With a group containing both experienced and new players, Coach Dormandy can be very flexible with his lineup. Since last season, Coach Dormandy has always preferred to have two setters in his drills. This season, this strategy looked difficult to continue, since Mara Mellstrom ’10 was the only setter at preseason. However, Katie Defusco ’09, a three-year member of the team, was able to fill the missing spot by converting her position. Despite her lack of experience as a setter, she has performed solidly in the past six games. “Katie became a setter. It was amazing because she played really consistently. We just found a good setter from our team,” said Co-Captain DeBruin. Coach Dormandy emphasized how the setter is the most important part in a team’s offense. “Our season is going to depend on how our two setters perform.”

Importance of Consistency

Even though the team is full of experienced players, the squad has no room for inconstancy. “We need to be more consistent,” added Coach Dormandy. “We have become better passing team and serving team from last year. Everyone puts tough serves, getting the team’s offense going. But, what we need is a consistent setting. We got two excellent hitters but inconsistency is causing some problems around the net.” Moreover, some young players have made some unexpected mistakes in the last six games. “They learn a lot from making mistakes. They get nervous when the game starts. They make one or two mistakes but after that they make solid plays. Taylor Elser ’09, Evans and Foster are all good players,” added DeBruin.

The team is also adjusting to a few changes in coaching. “We have a new coach in Ms. Grunwald. She’s doing an amazing job. It’s good to have a woman figure in our team,” said DeBruin. Also, Coach Dormandy started to focus more on conditioning during practice. “I think it gets us to move faster and prepares us for the future games,” added DeBruin. According to DeBruin, the team is much stronger at defense, especially blocking around the net.

The team has very lofty goals this season. Another New England Championship would be volleyball’s third championship in the last ten years, but “it’s going to challenging because the league got tougher.” According to Coach Dormandy, Hotchkiss and Andover seem to be Choate’s main rivals this season. Furthermore, several other schools in the league are having surprising results. “In 2004, we lost to Taft twice unexpectedly. We never know even though we are pretty strong team,” said Coach Dormandy. Choate will travel to Watertown to face the Rhinos this weekend, hoping to regain momentum for a final push in October.