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Sports

Westwood Volleyball Wins Thriller at Weston

Third game comeback sparks Wolverine's five-game win.

The Westwood volleyball team needed five games and 113 points, but was rewarded with its third win of the season in a 3-2 victory over Weston Monday night.

Six games into his first season, Wolverines' coach Jay Warren called his team's play frantic, but they were able to overcome their mistakes in a number of comebacks throughout the match.

"We have a lot of things going on," said Warren. "We're still learning."

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Westwood (3-3) was in every game, however, losing two games 26-24, but rallying to pick up more comfortable 25-13, 25-18 and 15-11 wins.

Weston (1-2) brought a tough serving game, but the Wolverines received it well, led by Molly McLaughlin in the back. The consistent serving of Westwood's Jing Li and Carol Han, who tallied 31 and 20 service points respectively, was important to keep the visitors in the games.

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"They had great service," said Warren. "We had some good serving from Jing and Carol."

McLaughlin also served well, adding 22 points, none bigger than during an 11-point run in the crucial third game. That game started with a 9-0 run by Weston before Li and McLaughlin served the Wolverines to a 16-11 lead that became an impressive 25-18 comeback win.

"In the third game being down 9-0, that was a big game for us to come back and win," said Warren.

After dropping a very close fourth game, where they missed some opportunities to end it, the Wolverines stepped up their play in the final game. The team found some rhythm offensively and got timely defensive plays from Chrissa Salemis and Rachel Berluti in the form of a tough dig for a point that broke a tie at 11, and a block that allowed Han to serve for the match.

"Offensively we started doing some good things at the end," said Warren. "We made some good runs."

The lengthy match took contributions from everyone on Westwood's side, but the setters in particular came up big. Salemis and Leigh Ronan contributed 33 and 30 sets respectively to pace the team's offense.

"Everybody played an important role," said Warren. "My setters Leigh and Christa both played well."

While the end result is just what the Wolverines are looking for, Warren hoped his team would continue to learn and improve so every victory won't have to be quite so intense.

"We'll try to win as many games as we can without me having a heart attack," said Warren.

Westwood will be back on the court Wednesday to host Medfield.

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