The Hamilton Yankees girls’ volleyball team faced the Westchester Comets Monday afternoon.
With Hamilton and Westchester both coming off a 3-0 loss, both teams had something to prove. As they entered the court to warm up, both teams appeared hyper and excited to play.
The first set started, and Hamilton scored the first point, but the Comets answered right back and made the score even. The entire first set featured back and forth play with both teams battling it out. A mistake by Hamilton at the beginning of the set, though, allowed Westchester to take the opportunity and snatch the point to take the lead. After this mistake, Hamilton really stepped up their game, scoring point after point. #15 Maya DeAngelis and #17 Laila Alarbesh stood out for the Yankees. With this comeback play, Hamilton won the first set 25-14, sending Westchester to a very important team talk about their game style.
At the start of the 2nd set, Hami led 1-0 and Westchester really needed to step it up.
There was amazing back-and-forth play from both teams to start off the second set, but a Hamilton error cost Westchester the point and they went down against the Comets. The 2nd set of the game showed way more intensity than the first, with both teams stuck with 3 points each on the scoreboard. A great play from Hamilton’s #17 Laila Alarbesh set up the ball for #24 Precious Cox to spike over, giving the Yankees the lead.
The Yankees showed way more aggression throughout the set, with number 11 scoring a point and number 15 spiking the ball right afterward with a build-up play from the back. Westchester was trailing behind in points and it didn’t help that Hamilton pulled a little trick play to score another point against Westchester. Shortly after, #24 Precious Cox blocked a well-attempted spike from Westchester. It was a great second set from Hamilton, proving they are not only good on the attack, they are also playing great defense. Westchester tried their best to keep up but ended up going to the bench for a team talk as Hami took the second set 25 to 15.
In the third set, Westchester really needed to win or the whole game was over. Laila Alarbesh scored the first point for Hamilton and took the lead 1-0. Set 3 saw way more concentration from both teams as Westchester tried to stay in the game, and Hami tried to secure the win. Westchester took a wild lead with 8-3 on the board, trying to prove they still got it. Hamilton took a team talk and whatever it was, it really woke the Yankees up, because they were scoring point after point and took back the lead 15 to 10. In the middle of the set, a very confusing play from both teams resulted in the ball going everywhere, but Hamilton managed to take the point by tipping the ball over, sending the Westchester players the opposite way.
Following their team talk, #15 Maya DeAngelis said that the team really focused on passing targets during that set.
“We really focused on getting our passes to target our center Angelly so we could run a good offense and serving aggressively so we could get them out of the system,” Maya said.
A wonderful build-up play from the Hamilton backside set up Precious Cox to spike the ball over and get another point. Nearing the end of the game, with Hamilton in the lead, there was a lot more back-and-forth play, with Westchester and Hamilton both denying each other the point, but a costly mistake from the Comets lost them the point. With the final score 25-10, Hamilton took the third set and won the game 3-0. With this win, #7 Angelly Castillo had some encouraging words for their team.
“There’s definitely things we can improve on, but overall I’m proud of my team for pulling the win,” Angelly said. “The players really help me keep going and keep playing.”
It was a great win from Hamilton on their home court, coming back strong from a 3-0 loss to Palisades.
#17 Laila Alarbesh said her team’s win was a great accomplishment.
“I believe our team is very driven and determined to win and I believe we have the ability to beat the hardest teams in the league,” Laila said. “I love how connected we are becoming. We blew out this team and I feel like the more we are playing, the better our chemistry is becoming.”
Kalia Vargas contributed to this article.
