The girls’ volleyball team is following up their successful season last year and are hoping to take the next step to make it to states.
The team’s first match was on Sept. 6 against Sherwood. Although all three games were close, the Patriots managed to defeat the Warriors 3-0. They won the first set 25-22, the second set 25-19, and the third set 25-18. Star senior Chanel Lucas led the team with 13 kills, followed by senior Eleni Panagopolus with 10. Sophomore Ariana Rezaiyan-Nojani led the team with three aces. “We really focused on coming out strong and not letting up at any point. We anticipated having to stay on our toes, hustle, and put the ball away considering Sherwood made an appearance in the championship last year. We knew we were going to have to play hard,” Lucas said.
The team’s next match was against Blair on Sept. 11. The Patriots again impressed, this time winning 3-1. They won the first set 27-25, the second set 25-20, they lost the third set 25-21, but then rebounded to win the fourth set 25-18. “We had a slow start and made a lot of unforced errors but we picked up our momentum and began playing our game, which resulted in our win,” Panagopolus said.
After defeating Blair, the team traveled to face the Walter Johnson Wildcats on Sept. 13. The team won again 3-1. The team started off slow and lost the first set 25-23. However, they overcame the early nerves to win three straight sets. They won the second set by a close score of 25-22, and then caught fire, winning the third set 25-19 and the fourth set 25-18.
On Sept. 16, the Patriots competed in the Winston Churchill Volleyball Tournament along with seven other teams. The teams played five games on the day, and had a variety of results.
This tournament had no impact on the team’s records and the games were played with best two out of three rules. For the first game, the team played against Richard Montgomery. They lost the first game 25-12 and the second game 25-21. The team started out flat and were unable to recover, dropping their first match of the day. “It was one of the worst games I have ever seen Wootton play,” Lucas said.
The team then played against Stone Ridge and dominated, winning the match 2-0. After their victory, the team played against Holton Arms and won 2-1. The inconsistency showed as the Patriots played poorly against Churchill and lost 2-0. Even though they won their final game against BCC 2-0, the team played bad and were lucky to win. The team finished with a 3-2 record on the day but there are still questions that were left unanswered.
The team played against Gaithersburg on Sept. 19 which was too late to be covered in this issue.

Ryan Ullman

Senior Sports Editor