Encouraging fans of the GSA volleyball team try to help the Eagles rally. By Anne Berleant
Blue Hill—The George Stevens Academy volleyball team may have come up a match shy of an appearance in the Class C state championship, but when they took the floor in their semifinal contest against Calais, it was already a win just by showing up.
The team hosted its first-ever semifinal on October 30, against a Calais team familiar with the postseason. That experience was favorable for the Blue Devils, who took the match in straight sets, 3-0.
“We came out fired up for the Calais match and started very strong. Unfortunately we began making serving and hitting errors during pretty important times of each set and it really cost us. The girls played their hearts out but we came up just short each set,” said co-coach Aleta Schmidt.
The season was the fourth for the program, and the best one on record. The Eagles went undefeated at home prior to the semifinal loss, and lost only two matches in the regular season, against Calais and Narraguagus. The team only dropped 15 sets in 16 matches, including in the quarter and semifinal rounds. For Schmidt and co-coach Bonnie Marckoon, it was a special season from the start.
“‘We are one’ was our motto this season,” said Marckoon. “The success the team achieved going this far into the post season was more than I had ever expected.”
“There were so many times I thought ‘we have something really special this year.’ The girls overcame many challenges together and made us so proud of the way they fought in each game,” added Schmidt.
The team graduates two seniors in Erika Hipsky and Mara Pickering, which means it will return most of its core players for next year’s season. Sophie Peasley will be the lone senior, while Ashley Emerson, Frances Spangler, Sophia Biggie and Evelyn Dagan will all return as juniors. The team will be rounded out by additions from this year’s junior varsity team and incoming freshmen.
“Our goal next year will be to take it all, and I have no doubt these girls will do what it takes,” said Schmidt.