By Caitlin Butler
George Mason High School’s volleyball team continued its hot streak with wins over Skyline High School and Brentsville District High School this past week.
The Mustangs (7-3) have won five matches in a row after a 2-3 start to the year.
Last Thursday’s fourth set against the Hawks was a nail biter for the audience as each team continued to fight back and trail by only one point. Then junior setter Alexis Holewinski scored the game winning ace to conclude what was a fairly cut and dry 3-1 match victory.
The night didn’t start out too rosey for Mason, though. Junior Vanessa George’s opening kill kicked off a seesawing battle that took place in the first set. Eventually, sophomore middle hitter Sydney Longer broke a 21-21 tie with a key ace that had the Mustangs in prime position. However, Skyline would rally for four straight points to close the set 25-21 and put Mason on its heels.
Slow starts are an ongoing bugaboo for the Mustangs this season, and one they look to work around when they can’t work through them.
“One of our struggles is coming out strong, so even though in the first set we really didn’t achieve that as much as we wanted to, we got the win” Holewinski said after her clinching ace.
Mason head coach Derek Baxter threw in junior libero Caroline Poley to start the second set, who was resting due to some injury concerns to start the match.
The substitution meant the Mustangs continued to apply pressure to the Hawks.
It didn’t take long for the Mustangs to pull away with a block from junior middle hitter Roza Gal to make the score 10-4. After a kill from junior outside hitter Megan Boesen, the Mustangs took the second set win easily with the score 25-9.
Baxter mentioned that his focal point was finding the open spots on the Hawks side of the court and switching up their offense plays.
Versatility showed in the sets to follow.
As the third set began, the Mustangs continued to have great success making the first set point from the junior outside hitter Megan Boesen on a block.
George would finish off the set with a kill for a final 25-11 score in favor of Mason.
By the fourth set the Hawks started to trickle back into contention.
They even held a slim 5-4 lead early into the set.
But as the match continued, and despite a few near runs by Skyline, the Mustangs maintained the lead and with a fourth set with a score of 28-26.
Mason will be on the road this next week, starting with a game at William Monroe High School tomorrow night.
