New Trier girls volleyball won 25-19 and 25-14 against Evanston on Oct. 9 in a hard fought game.
With conference right around the corner for the girls, this win helped propel them towards the important games coming up. “This win gets us closer to winning conference,” said head coach Hannah Hsieh.

As this was the second time around for the team playing ETHS this season, their goal was to improve from their first win. In fact, it is important to the girls for them to improve each time they play a conference team for the second time.

“Our goal is to improve our play each time we see the conference teams the second time, and I felt the girls did that against Evanston, it was a better victory than the first,” explained Hsieh.

Senior Maddie McGregor added, “These last few games before playoffs are super crucial to working out last minute kinks.” Since the conference games are more important than the ones leading up to it, “we focused on crisping up our game before crunch time,” she said.

To perform their best, the girls need to get into the right mindset, especially against a competitor like Evanston.
“We sit in a circle and set out personal and team goals, visualize certain outcomes or plays, and then do our cheer. That hyped everyone up and got them in the mindset to play,” said Junior Catherine Flood.

ETHS is known for having strong serves that tend to get them points on the board.
“Leading up to the game we focused on getting them out of their system with our serves. We sharpened up our serves and receiving,” explained McGregor.
Although the team did focus on improving their serves for Evanston, McGregor claimed the team “didn’t adapt anything major, the main focus was staying mentally strong against a very strong competitor. “

Hsieh added, “In volleyball, anyone can win on any given day.”

Although most teams consist of players sitting out on the bench, the girls volleyball team makes sure their bench players still contribute to the game. Whether it be cheering or writing down important plays, everyone is engaged.

Most of the team would agree that the bench players added a much-needed role in the Evanston game.

“When we are able to get everyone contributing to the win on and off the bench, it is a good confidence builder for the team,” explained Hsieh. “Our players on the bench did a great job adding to the level of intensity.”

With a solid amount of wins under their belt, it is clear the team is very well rounded. Hsieh said, “All the players off the bench did a great job adding to the level of play.”McGregor continued by saying, “We were able to succeed because everyone got to play and contribute to the win.”

While the team played with cohesion and presented as a tight knit team, there were some players who performed especially well during the ETHS game.
“Gillian [Klise] had a good game and made a lot of good blocks,” said Flood. “Britt [Soudan] has been working especially hard in practice and it showed with her serves. She went on multiple runs that helped her build our lead and created opportunities on our side of the net,” explained McGregor.

With aggression being a key element against Evanston and their increased success in serves, they were able to improve on their second game against the Wildkits.

“We were aggressive with our serving and more accurate with our location, so we were able to keep them out of system for a better part of the game,“ said Hsieh.
Being able to knock a competitor even slightly off their path, takes intelligence and patience. The girls have mastered Evanston`s system and it showed in the outcome of Tuesday’s game.

“This win brings our team one step closer to accomplishing two of our goals from the beginning of the season,” said McGregor. “Going undefeated and eventually winning conference.”