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With her eyes never leaving the ball, Georgia Leuck ’29 jumps to prepare for her serve. Leuck’s solid serves throughout the game led to back-and-forth rallies.
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Showcasing practiced coordination, Sophie Chen ’29 springs upwards to set the ball for her teammate, Liberty Hargave ’29. Prepared, Hargave runs forward in the hopes of achieving a kill.
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With a confident smile, Kimmie Menendez ’28 practices striking the ball in anticipation for the game’s start. Menendez exhibited skilled consistency in her strikes and serves throughout the game, bringing a competitive edge to the Warriors’ gameplay.
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Exhilarated but nervous, the JV White Volleyball Team high five the raiders before running to warm up for their first set. A display of sportsmanship signaling the beginning of the game, both teams felt pumped and excited following this symbolic exchange.
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Smiling, Ava Hernandez ’29 glances back at her friends watching the game amidst a discussion with her team. Despite a demanding and arduous set, the girls were happy to see the support they received from the stands and their peers.
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Leaping upwards, Olivia Navarro ’28 and Lucy Aldrete ’28 jump to block the ball from coming over the net. Their valiant efforts assisted in a push back against Cedar Ridge.
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Hands together in the Westwood symbol, the JV White Volleyball Team looks to each other for support after discussing strategy with their coach. A difficult loss in their first set shook their morale, but they continued to fight hard throughout their second set.
In a back and forth showdown filled with long rallies and powerful plays, Freshman Volleyball secured their hard-earned win 2-1 against the Stony Point Tigers on Friday, Sept. 19. After their loss against Cedar Ridge, the Warriors took the court fierce and united against the Tigers, scoring points through striking saves and dominant blocks.
“I think we did really good with covering,” Caitlin Steenrod ’29 said. “It’s something we’ve been working on and we’ve definitely improved on it a lot [this game].”
Opening the first set, Daisy Segura ’29 secured the first point for Westwood with a kill. This lead did not hold easily for the Warriors as following the early kill,multiple long, challenging rallies occured. However, even through this adversity, the Warriors remained unphased, helping maintain Westwood’s leading position with strong defense and speedy digs by Aahana Desai ’29. Westwood sustained their lead, although not easily as Stony Point remained determined in every offensive possession, until they were neck and neck with Stony Point at a score of 24-24. Needing to win by two, a strong kill followed by a disappointing miss by the Warriors led to the first set ending with a win for the Tigers and a final score of 26-24.
“Our coach makes us pretend like we’re goldfish,” Emme Sims ’29 said. “They have bad memories, and she tells us to forget the previous game or set we had and have a new mindset [for the next set].”
With a shifted focus and newfound determination, the Warriors pushed themselves even harder in the second set. Both Segura and Sims made clever passes and forceful spikes to open the second set and to help hold the Warriors lead of 8-7 through the first ten minutes. The Tigers repeatedly hit errors and out of bound serves forcing Stony Point to call the first timeout while the score was at 17-15, with the Warriors in the lead. After the timeout, both teams played with intensity, keeping long rallies but allowing for constant turnovers, making the second set just as nerve-racking as the first. These tense plays caused Westwood to call their first timeout of the night with only one point needed to win the . After a fumble by the Tigers, the Warriors won the second set, putting the set score at 1-1.
“We did a lot of hustling,” Ava Punalekar ‘29 said. “We knew Stony Point serves a lot of unexpected balls for our team so [I] tried going for the ball, calling it, and just [playing] with my best effort.”
The third set started shaky, with the Tigers opening with a quick run of 3-0, and Westwood losing opportunities for points by shanking the ball. However, with determination and passion, the Warriors kept the ball alive during long rallies, and communicated well with each other to move smoothly around the court.After many shifts in possession as both teams played fiery offense, an ace by Sims allowed the Warriors to close the gap and bring the score to 15-16. After a couple more well placed serves and effective blocks, the Warriors lead the score at 23-21, causing the Tigers to call their first timeout of the set. Coming out of the timeout the Warriors score the first point, immediately giving them the one up by building confidence. With only one more point needed to take home the Homecoming victory, a long rally that lasted almost 3 minutes, ended with a kill for the Warriors, giving them the victory of the set and the game. The final score of the third set was 25-21.
The Warriors will prepare to play their next game on Tuesday, Sept. 23 against the Manor Mustangs.
![Focused, Grace Toledo '28 prepares to set the ball, as part of the warm up. Toledo played a crucial role in backrow during the Warrior's game against the Raiders. "[In the third set] we fixed our serves, and filled in the gaps," Toledo said.](jpg/edit_2025-09-16_jvo-volleyball-vs-cedar-ridge_preeyapanwalker_1-e1758381918417-697x1200.jpg)
