On Oct. 7, Woodbridge High’s varsity girls’ volleyball fiercely battled Northwood High. The game was a Pink Out in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month and players on both sides sported pink t-shirts, while Woodbridge players wore pink cancer ribbon temporary tattoos.

Junior Zoey Sun began the game with a serve that Northwood hit out of bounds, earning Woodbridge their first point. Woodbridge maintained a lead of several points for the entire first quarter. When Woodbridge was one point from winning the first quarter, senior and team captain Carly Schinhofen made an intense dig but could not get the ball back over the net, setting the score at 24-14, Woodbridge. The next play sealed the first quarter with a score of 25-25, Woodbridge, thanks to a spike that Northwood was unable to return.

The second quarter was more tumultuous, and the leading team switched back and forth several times in the first dozen plays. Northwood pulled ahead for the first time in the game, with a score of 11-12, when two Woodbridge players collided as they went for the same ball. The teams continued to fight over the lead. Sun carried out a complicated play: she hit a ball back in bounds from the back of the court, where the gym doormat got in the way, but she still managed to make it back to her place at the front of the court to continue the play. Woodbridge scored during this play, but remained a few points behind until the end of the quarter, which ended with a score of 21-25. 

Northwood solidified a lead from the beginning of the third quarter when Woodbridge hit three consecutive balls out of bounds. Though junior Hailey Oldham and senior Chloe Leimer helped score several points with well-timed, aggressive hits that Northwood cannot return, Woodbridge lost the third quarter when one Oldham’s hits proved too hard and bounced off of the ceiling and onto the ground. The third quarter ended with a score of 18-25.

“We fell into a pattern of just getting nervous around [Northwood] and we didn’t play to our utmost potential,” Schinhofen said. 

Woodbridge scored the first three points of the fourth quarter. Oldham stuffed a Northwood spike, which Leimer recovered and Oldham tapped over the other side, scoring Woodbridge their fourth point. 

“We prepared and knew where the hitters were going to hit,” Oldham said. “But we still have a lot of work to do.”

“I think we struggled with defense a little bit tonight to serve receive so we could work on that,” Schinhofen added.

Woodbridge started to lose their lead after the first time out of the quarter when Northwood scored six points in seven plays, bringing the score to 9-9. Woodbridge pulled back ahead thanks to a hit by sophomore Roni Lachmish. The intensity built throughout the fourth quarter because Northwood had won two quarters and only needed a third victory to win the game. 

The teams reached a tie again at 19-19 and the outcome of the game was decided in the next eight plays. Northwood scored when a Woodbridge serve went out of bounds and again when Woodbridge failed to dig out a spike, bringing the score to 19-21. Woodbridge scored another point when a Northwood spike hit the net. The score rose to 21-24 with one play left in the game, and Woodbridge’s serve hit the net, scoring Northwood their winning point.