Girls Volleyball victorious over Newark Memorial

By Staff Writers Gaura Amarnani & Leland Yu

MSJ Varsity Girls Volleyball defeated Newark Memorial High School in three sets on September 25, marking MSJ’s first homecoming game since 2016. Students and families filled the arena and watched pregame performances, including Sophomore Jazz Funk and MSJ Ishaara, while teams warmed up. The addition of these performances lit up the gym, with students and parents in the crowd clapping along, carrying that energy into the game. “I feel like it was really good that we had the honor to play a homecoming game. If there’s future games like this to come, it would be really hype, and it brings the school together,” Co-Captain Outside-Hitter Senior Allyson Wong said.

The competitive spirit between both teams was present throughout the entire match, and was felt through the gym by the viewers and players alike. MSJ and Newark Memorial traded points back and forth for the first few plays, but MSJ began to pull ahead with a 10-4 lead. After a quick back and forth, MSJ took the first set 25-13. The first set truly set the tone for the game with players like Co-Captain Setter Junior Sumedha Mamadi, Outside-Hitter Junior Sunayna Mamadi, and Middle-Blocker Senior Brittany Lu dominating their respective positions. Sumedha’s perfectly played serves lead to powerful hits from Lu and Sunayna. Set two began with a different energy, tending to be more back and forth before Lu’s five straight serves resulting in MSJ points. Highlight players Co-Captain Opposite-Hitter Senior Connie Li and Brittany Lu dominated this game with the hitting duo unmatched by Newark Memorial. Key blocks and hits largely carried the momentum through the match. Set three saw similar action but with substitutes playing more minutes. While this set was also back and forth, there was never a doubt about the result, with star players Connie Li, Brittany Lu, and Sunayna Mamadi dominating once again. “Our energy was high all the time, which is great. If we can keep that up. I think we can go really far this season,” Li said.

A key emphasis on receiving serves was also placed with MSJ players grappling with different serves all game. Throughout the game, MSJ struggled to receive serves in their different formations. At the same time, their own serving became a major strength. Sumedha’s perfectly placed serves anchored the team to victory. Her serves led the team from 13-8 to 22-9 in the second half of the second set. Sunayna’s great hit to end this large rally at point 20 set the momentum for the rest of the game. 

However, the addition of minutes for substitutes definitely slowed down the team, something the team needs to address in future games. Subs such as Opposite-Hitter Junior Arshia Sen and Middle-Blocker Senior Scarlett Massengale sometimes came in disoriented, leading to questions about positional changes and rotations. Moreover, the bench made their best attempts at cheering on the team but Newark Memorial’s fanbase often managed to outshine even the larger homecoming crowd. Nonetheless, MSJ took complete control of the entire game as every mistake was overshadowed by great recoveries and rebuttals.

Following the dominant performance from MSJ, the players and crowd erupted in celebration, as the reality of winning MSJ’s first homecoming game settled in. “The game plan was simple: we wanted to just come and play our game the way we know we’re capable of playing and don’t over stress about things. We played very cleanly, controlled the ball on both ends of the spectrum, offense and defense, and they stuck to doing what was right and that’s the reason we got a W for homecoming,” Coach Walker said, with high hopes of this game being a turning point to MSJ’s lackluster season reflected by their now 2-4 record.