Volleyball defeats league rival Beverly

Nicholas ZarchenStaff WriterThe girls’ volleyball team battled through one of their toughest matches yet against Beverly Hills on Nov. 2. The girls were saying goodbye to their three seniors: Lindsey Nakatani, Tess Walther and Molly Philbin, who all played well in their final league game. The team played Beverly a couple weeks earlier and won in four sets. Coming out confident, the girls got a little lazy, dropping the first and fourth games but winning the long fight 21-25, 27-5, 25-21, 21-25, 15-3.In the first game the girls came out cold, making many uncharacteristic serving and passing errors. They were down very early and looked as if they could lose their first league match this season. The Samo fans was clutching their seats.“After our loss in the first we knew what we had to do and it just made us even more determined to win,” senior setter Tessa Walther said.Going into the second game the girls knew they had to make drastic changes to pull out the win. The crowd got louder and in the second game Samo turned it around. Going from just two blocks in the first game to nine huge roofs by sophomore Greta Schmittdiel and junior Dana Ritchie in the second, Samo was pumped up. The girls went on to win the close game, feeding off each others' confidence and the crowd’s energy.“This season we’re really playing like a team. These girls are like my sisters and this season has just been so much fun with them and playing some really great volleyball,” Schmittdiel said.With the crowd going crazy and Samo on fire, Beverly was silenced. Continuing their roll they went on to sweep Beverly in the third. Despite many bad calls, the girls overcame them and drilled kills and focused on passing with senior libero Lindsey Nakatani making great pancakes to lead her team closer to the victory.At the beginning of the fifth game Beverly seemed shaken by the noise and intensity in the North Gym.Samo took advantage of the home crowd’s spirit. Leaving everything on the court, Samo’s defense converted and the offense took over.  Junior Sarah Krenik’s 12-point serving  run propelled the team to kill Beverly 15-3.The girls also played a repeat match against Culver Wednesday Oct. 27 and beat them 25-12, 25-27, 25-22, 25-13. The girls beat them earlier in the season in four sets and were hoping to come out the same way.  In the last matchup against Culver, Samo started the match slowly but cleaned up the floor; this culver game was the complete opposite — the girls dominated the first game but struggled in the second.“These games have taught us what we need to change,” Nakatani said. “We want to fix those things as we go into CIF.”nzarchen@thesamohi.com