Homecoming Victory Marks First Time Whalers Have Won Back-to-Back Matches

The Pierson/Bridgehampton girls volleyball team defeated the Ross School, 3-0, on Friday at homecoming, and paired with a 3-0 victory at Southampton on September 20, it marked the first time this season that the Whalers won back-to-back matches.

With a 3-5 League VII record (3-7 overall) halfway through the season, Pierson is hoping that its recent bout of success is a sign of things to come.

“I’m really proud of the girls because they’re averaging more aces in a match than missed serves,” head coach Hilary Corwin said. “Communication on the court is so different than it was at the beginning of the season. Every game they come out and they grow. That’s all you expect as a coach.”

Corwin said making the playoffs is still something that the team has its sights set on. Back-to-back losses to Greenport/Southold didn’t help their chances, she said, but they’re far from out of it.

“I feel like we have a chance,” at making the playoffs, senior Lyra Aubry said after Friday’s victory. “If we keep working hard and staying with this trajectory of competitiveness, we definitely have a chance.

“[Winning] builds confidence and team camaraderie and it makes us excited for our next game, so we’ll see what else we have to bring to our next game, what else we can do and how much we can compete with the next team,” she added.

Pierson made quick work of Ross in the first set of Friday’s match, winning it, 25-8. It got off to a quick start in the second set, and thanks to a pair of aces by Alex Kolhoff, the Whalers led, 19-9, eventually winning the set, 25-12.

Ross, now facing a 2-0 deficit, got off to a quick start of its own in the third set, taking an 8-4 lead that led to Corwin calling a timeout for Pierson. Out of the break, the Whalers played better, and it was once again their serving that brought them back. Milla Campomar trimmed what was an eight-point deficit to a four-point deficit with her serving, then another pair of aces by Alex Kolhoff brought Pierson within two of the Ross Schools’ 15-13 lead.

Eventually Pierson tied the match at 18-18, then kills by Kolhoff sandwiched between an ace by Aubry gave the Whalers a 22-20 lead. Another pair of aces by Campomar and a kill by Helena Kolhoff clinched the match in three sets.

Helena Kolhoff finished with a team-high six hits while her younger sister had five hits and a team-high seven aces. Fiona Martin had six assists.

“I am looking forward to having more passes off of serves when the other team is serving so we can get a kill, which I think we’ve been doing a good job at, so just keeping that up,” Corwin said, in terms of what she’s looking for from her team going forward. “Playing at the level that I know they can play at, consistently.”

Coming out of the three-day weekend, Pierson started a stretch of four of its next five matches on the road, starting with Port Jefferson on Tuesday. It’s scheduled to play at Mattituck this Thursday, September 28, at 4:30 p.m. before hosting Center Moriches this Monday at 6:15 p.m.