by Adam Rabinowitz
With all eyes set on a return to the State Championship, girls’ volleyball, 15-2, is learning more and more about itself as the season progresses.
The Tigers competed at the Medfield Classic this past weekend, ultimately finishing first in the silver bracket, according to senior Andie Orduña, a captain with the rest of the team’s seniors.
The Tigers started the tournament off slowly, says Orduña, and as a result were knocked into the silver bracket. With the postseason nearing, Orduña says that the Tigers are working to improve their mentality during games.
“I think the biggest thing at this point is training ourselves to become mentally tougher, because our biggest issue as a team is getting down on ourselves during a game and not being able to play our best. We know we have the ability to beat these teams but we just need to have the right mindset during games,” she said.
Senior Jessica Hiltz added that the Tigers are working on reducing offensive errors. Hiltz said that the team has “realized that how the other team plays shouldn’t affect how [they] play” and that the Tigers are working on “minimizing errors and cleaning things up.”
One of the Tigers’ losses came Monday against Melrose, 2-3. With the postseason nearing, senior Sophie Tavolieri says the team has a few things to take away from the match.
“It was a fun match with great rallies and crazy kills, but our issue is starting off strong,” she said.
The Tigers lost the first set 11-25, which Tavolieri says it because the team was not “warmed up yet.”
“The first set is never our strongest, but then we always pull through in the sets to come,” she said.
With that in mind, Tavolieri added that the Tigers are focusing on starting confident, as well as playing smart from the moment they step on the court.
“During the postseason, we will play more advanced teams than we have been, so we need to be sure we minimize our errors,” she said.
The Tigers face Needham Friday, the team’s senior night.