On November 13, the girls varsity volleyball team played in their first playoff game, facing off against the Bronx’s Walton Campus.  This was the team’s first playoff game since 2011 and at two sets to none, it proved a dominating victory for THHS.

This was the first playoff game for many of the girls. The adrenaline level was high and propelled them to a 25-8 first set win.  In this set the girls’ communication allowed them to succeed and led to many kills from sophomore Leann Senat, junior Lucy Lim, and seniors Bianca Dilan and Selina Feng.

But in the second set, the girls’ nerves caught up with them.  Initially, the girls’ communication was  poor, causing them to let many balls drop in between one another, with no one saying a word and staring at each other.  The slow start left them trailing 6-2.  But their resilience let them come back and gain a 10-6 lead which they would not relinquish.  After a mini Walton comeback, the Hawks went on a roll expanding their lead to 20-10.  In this streak, Leann had 4 kills and Selina had 9 straight service points.  In the end, the girls won the set 25-12.

Reflecting on her performance in her first playoff game, Leann said that she was “surprised and impressed by my performance.”

Selina also added that “serves are really important in volleyball because it’s one of the easiest ways to gain or lose points. I was confident in my serves, and I’m glad that I was able to provide a gap in the point difference.”

For coach Weinstein in his first season at THHS, this was his first playoff game and he was happy to be a part of it.  He believes that the girls played a great first set but were “overwhelmed in stress from playing in their first playoff game, which showed in their second set performance.”

Although pleased with the victory and his team’s performance, Weinstein wants the girls to improve on this.

The Lady Hawks had a home-court advantage as the Wanda Nix Gymnasium was packed with Townsend Harris supporters. Leann was surprised by the high attendance and “glad to see all the people from our school supporting us.”

Coach Weinstein also believes that this high attendance was great for the girls, making them play better.

With this win, the Lady Hawks advance to the second round to face off against Bronx Science. The game will be held on November 15th at Bronx Science, so the girls will not have the same advantage they enjoyed against Walton.

The team will have only one practice until this game, the girls hope to improve on communication and that they won’t have too many nerves affecting them against Bronx Science, the same team that ended the Lady Hawks’ season the last time they were in the playoffs in 2011.

Captain Bianca Dilan says, “We aren’t at all intimidated. We are ready to go in and lay it all out on the court.”