There wasn’t much of a competition for our starters on Monday as they annihilated the Northside College Prep Mustangs due to a combination of strong play from our starters and several miscues on the Mustang’s part.  Northside couldn’t seem to find their groove, missing a number of seemingly easy kills.  Still, the Wolves dominating plays led to Northside’s downfall.

The first game was characterized by kill after kill from senior Dange Gillespie.  By the time the score had reached 15-6 in the Wolves favor, it became apparent that the Mustang’s level of play wasn’t up to par.  Head coach Andrew Roche began putting in our bench players, who continued to do well against the opponents.  As sophomore Eli Gelfand ended the first game with a kill of his own, the scoreboard read 25-15.

Roche was impressed with his starters’ play in the first game, saying, “They played great.  They didn’t play down to the opponent’s level, but they were able to maintain their superior play.  They never let up, and they didn’t give them a chance to recover.”

In the second game, hardly any of our regular starters played; however, strong bench players such as juniors Steven Cristi, Chris Tomuta, and Dustin Easter were able to take advantage of Northside’s continuing miscommunication.  When the score was 13-7 with the Wolves in the lead, it appeared as though the Mustangs’ defense was at their breaking point.  Soon thereafter, Niles West went on a downturn, as Northside pulled within two points towards the end of the game (23-21), with the Wolves barely holding on.  In the end, the Wolves’ bench players were able to win 25-23.

Coach Roche was happy that he was able to get some other players in the game, but he recognized that his starters will need to step it up for some big conference matches.

“We have a big game this week.  We’re tied for first place in the conference with GBS and Maine South, and we were hoping to gain some momentum from this game that we could carry over into our upcoming matches against Maine South tomorrow [May 1st] and GBS on Thursday.  Based on tonight’s performance, I think we accomplished that goal,” he said.