By Jeff JHO Hoyland
To say September was a rough patch for Bedford High Volleyball is an understatement. The Bucs bookended the month with wins but spent most of the month learning who and what they were made of.
With half the varsity roster made up of seniors, you would think the team is packed with experience. No doubt the players have skills; however, to took half the season for them to move from good buddies to team leaders. “Good Buddies” don’t want to offend BFFs by stealing a teammate’s shot; “Team Leaders” have their BFFs back and will save a shot by jumping in and high-five later.
All images in the gallery below are (c) Jeff JHO Hoyland, 2107 all rights reserved – Click twice on each image to view it at full size
Click this link to view all the game pictures on Bedford Snapshots’ Facebook page
The first half of the season was marred with losses which could be attributed to two major flaws – service errors and kill shot errors. The last home game in September against Waltham showed that the Buccaneer Volleyball team have learned to put these issues behind them.
Critical in the three set to zero win over Waltham was that for the first time in the season, multiple servers were able to strings 4 to 5 points together. Most of the season saw servers sending an unforced error serves into the net, or well beyond the end line. The hallmark of the Waltham win was each server with multiple aces in the game. And these weren’t creampuff shots to just get over the net, these were serves with “Uummmmmmmph”. (As the “honorary good-luck charm”, I was asked to pray that the team develop more consistency – the prayer was answered.)
It was apparent from pre-game warm-up that BHS had been practicing their kill shots. Whereas most of the season, it was tough to watch time and time again the striker’s shots sail untouched out of bounds, this game saw hard-pounded balls striking the court with a resounding thud.
The win over Waltham also saw two major changes in personnel positions. First, junior Mallory Ferland and senior Tori Whitmore shared the libero role. The libero is a defensive specialist that wears a contrasting jersey color ( BHS wears blue jerseys, the team’s libero wears white). However, both players also played regular positions, so some quick changes during the game were in order.
Loading ...
