WHS Volleyball Rallies

After dropping the first set and trailing late in the second set, Wethersfield boys volleyball went into attack mode and rallied to defeat Lewis Mills in four sets (24-26, 25-22, 25-20, 25-19) at WHS on May 10.

It was the Eagles sixth win this spring and second victory over the Spartans of Lewis Mills in less than a month. 

Seniors setter Anduei Xhelaj led the charge, dishing out 37 assists, while junior Mikel Lleshi had a team-high 12 kills and added three blocks

Head coach Deb O’Brien said the team has been a bit slow starting this entire season, so she wasn’t concerned after the team fell behind a set.

“We focused on capitalizing on the comeback part,” O’Brien said of the team’s discussion following the opening set. “I felt like we tried to force some plays and we just had to go with what we are given.”

Senior captain Landon Bassell said the plan coming into the match was to secure the first set, but quickly pivoted after Lewis Mills put a wrench in the plans. 

“We talked about what we did wrong in that first set and we just had to get the energy back up,” stated Bassell, who had a dozen digs and a pair of aces. “We haven’t won the first set that many times, so we are comfortable in the second set and third and fourth sets. We knew we were going to win; we just had to get it done.” 

Down a set and trailing 17-16 in the second set, the Eagles reeled off three straight points, highlighted by a finish and an assist from Xhelaj. 

Junior Max Prunier added a thunderous spike and Bassell poked one over the next to give the Eagles a 23-20 lead before the Eagles closed the set, knotting the match at a set apiece.

The Eagles again trailed in the third set, falling behind 9-7, before Lleshi hammered home a kill and had a block to tie the set up. 
After Lewis Mills temporarily retook the lead, the Eagles scored eight of the next ten points behind Evan Terry, who had a pair of kills and an ace during the run. Terry, a senior, finished the match with 10 kills. 

Up a set, O’Brien said she could sense a confident group going into the fourth, adding, “We talked about not letting up.”

A 10-1 run in the fourth set provided Wethersfield a commanding lead and pair of finishes from Terry and another kill from Joshua Pinero ended any doubt in the decisive set. 

“Yesterday we had a big talk that we had five games left and we had to win three of them to get to states,” added Bassell, the team’s libero, “We knew we had beat [Lewis Mills] before, but it wasn’t guaranteed that we would beat them again, so we had to focus.”

After starting the season with four wins in six matches, the Eagles hit a skid in late-April and had lost eight of nine heading into the home match with Lewis Mills. 

O’Brien said the team has been “up and down” this season, but added that she has liked how they have competed.

“We play better when we are talking and we play with energy,” added O’Brien “We have a lot of great hitters, but part of our struggle this year is not clicking as a team. Not everybody is on the same page on the same day, but when they are you saw what we do could in the third and fourth sets.”

As the team captain, Bassell said it he wants to be a “pillar on the court” for his younger teammates. 

“We have a lot of potential but sometimes we just don’t work that well together,” added Bassell “It’s about figure out what their strengths and weakness are on the court.”

​The Eagles will play their home finale this Friday (May 19), hosting Glastonbury at WHS, starting at 5 p.m.