Churchill Volleyball Suffers First Loss

Since beating Blair in their first match of the season, the Churchill volleyball team had not lost a single game, beating both Blake and Einstein 3-0. That changed on Monday afternoon when the team from Northwest High School visited Potomac and downed the Bulldogs in four games.

Churchill started the match as strongly as it had finished the previous three, winning the first game 25-20. Junior Sarafina Arthur-Williams, a hulking basketball star turned volleyball rookie, led the offensive attack throughout that game, finishing a noticeable amount of the team's points.

Arthur-Williams started the second game on the bench and her absence was immediately felt. Northwest's bulky hitters took advantage of the lack of height on the Churchill side of the net, abusing players like senior Clara Sze, who took multiple balls to the face.

After Northwest jumped out to a 16-3 lead in the game, Churchill Coach Amanda Cook reinserted Arthur-Williams into the match. While her presence made a difference, Northwest still closed out the game by a final score of 25-6.

Game three more closely reflected the first game than it did the second, the final score 25-19. This time however, it was in favor of the visiting Jaguars. Sze took yet another spill in the game, and did not return for the remainder of the match.

The final game, like game two, was not competitive. Northwest's 25-7 victory in the game four sealed the match.

Following the contest, Cook called out her team's complacency and lack of drive.

"We need to never be satisfied," she said. "After we won the first game we were thinking 'Oh, cool, we did it. We can relax a little bit.' Just because you win a game doesn't mean the match is over. You have to keep going all the way to the end."

Although she acknowledged Northwestern's prowess, Cook put the weight of the loss on her own squad.

"They have a strong hitter — one of the stronger hitters we've come across. We were very well matched for each other, but we didn't come out very strong," she said.

Although negative regarding the outcome, Cook has been pleased with the play of Arthur-Williams all season, who before mid-August had never played volleyball in her life.

"I was so excited when she came out [for the team]," Cook said. "She has picked up a lot of the techniques very quickly, but she's still learning the ball-handling part. She's really athletic. She'll get it."

Churchill's next game is on Thursday at home against Whitman.

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