On Friday, November 9th the Montville Indians drove over an hour to get to the Woods for the quarterfinal match. When they arrived they soon realized that the Hawks are definitely a team to fear.

“Having made it this far, we know what we can do and we know what we’re capable of,” stated outside hitter, Lexie Chabot. “I feel that a lot of us have that mentality or all of us have that mentality that we’ve made it this far. We have to keep it going and we’re looking to play to the end.”

The Hawks were most definitely on their game on Friday. They took a quick lead in the first set and ended it 25-15.

The second set started off a little rockier. The Montville servers were starting to gain a little confidence which put the Hawks a little on edge. This caused head coach, Jim Amato, to put in off-set, Xiu Xiu Sammis-McCoy, for some extra defense.

“I kept myself calm and collected because I knew that if I showed any doubt, that I would definitely bring down the team,” said Sammis-McCoy. “I knew that’s not what we needed at that moment.”

The second set was a lot of back and forth with the ball constantly rolling back and forth under the net for service. Coach, Jim Amato’s faith in his team never wavered,

“At one point we were down 14-20. I never stopped believing,” said Amato. “Even when we got close and tied it up at 22, in the huddle, I was just telling them, we have to break serve, and then be aggressive on the next point.”

We have to keep it going and we’re looking to play to the end. – Lexie Chabot

The team took the advice to heart. After a lot of hard work, the Hawks came out on top 28-26.

“I got a little nervous but I had faith in my team. I knew that we could do it I knew we could pull through and win it,” expressed Stephanie Krebbs, middle hitter.

The point by point game continued over into the third set. Tensions were running high and the Hawks were eager to win and send the Indians back to Montville.

Alyssa Lukeski, outside hitter, knew that they had to close out the match.

“We were able to push through and close out a game in three which we struggled to do the last game[set],” stated Lukeski.

Setter, Fatima Khalid, understands they are the underdogs, but their bite is worse than their bark.

“Each win we have now in the postseason, it shows us more how much we can do it,” said Khalid. “We can beat teams that are a higher seed than us.”

The Hawks’ next game will be the semifinal match against Seymour. They hope many people attend, and there will even be a fan bus going.

Photo Credit: Michele Iraci