The girls’ varsity volleyball team played their second game of the season on Sept. 10 against Damascus. The team looked to go 2-0 after they beat Watkins Mill in straight sets in the season opener.

The packed crowd watched the match start off evenly, as both teams exchanged series of points and no team took a sustainable lead. Later in the set, Damascus went on a run and went up by as much as eight points. The Patriots would try to bounce back but it would prove to be too little, too late as the Hornets won the first set 25-21. The Patriots played great defense with a multitude of blocks, but needed a spark on offense to win the second set.

The Patriots got exactly what they wanted with the spark coming off the bench from junior Miranda Saenger. Saenger helped to propel the team to an early second set lead and they never looked back. Saenger had a kill in the second set as well as multiple points won off of her serves and the Patriots tied up the match 1-1.

With the momentum from the second set, the Patriots were able to win the third set and after four sets the match was tied 2-2. The Patriots rallied together and won the last set 15-10 to maintain the undefeated season.“I felt like we played really well in the final sets and that we stepped up when we needed to in the second and third one. I’m excited for the rest of the season and I hope we can continue to win matches and play like we did today,” Saenger said.

The Patriots look to keep up their perfect record in MCPS play against Blair on Friday, Sept. 17, which would give them positive momentum heading into a three-game home stretch to finish off the month of September. 

The team has created buzz and students are excited to attend the games. “I think I am going to go to some of the home games later in the season and possibly the playoffs. I think that it’s really cool to see other sports besides football having fans in attendance as I play on the golf team and we don’t always have a lot of fans at matches so I try to support when I can,” junior Tyler Cosgrove said.

Coach Mary Malinauskas was not available to comment.