The Kingswood Oxford volleyball team finished off a resoundingly strong season with a 12-5 record, making the NEPSAC Class B Tournament by the end.
The Wyverns were led by Head Coach Scott McDonald, as well as Assistant Coaches Ryan Radmanovich and Cameron Biondi. Coach McDonald has coached the volleyball team for 26 years, taking some skillful teams on successful runs.
With this particular team, Coach McDonald was excited to work with such a talented group that possessed great chemistry and leadership. “We were able to work together well and in a way that really took advantage of everybody’s strengths,” he said. “So, I anticipated we were going to have a good season, but I wasn’t really expecting us to do quite as well as we did.”
Led by two co-captains, senior setter Mackenzie Caruso and junior left side hitter Keira Sullivan, the Wyverns rebounded from a cancelled 2020 season due to COVID-19 in hopes of achieving new highs for the program. The squad struggled early, dropping their first two games to King School and Hopkins School, both in three sets.
However, the team was able to bounce back, winning seven straight matches, outscoring their opponents 21 sets to three within this stretch. Caruso credits this streak to a change in their strategy and gameplan, switching to a 6-2 format that gave the skilled players the best opportunities to showcase their abilities. “We made a few lineup changes at the beginning of the year, just because we have so many versatile players that can play many different positions,” Caruso said. “We ended up in a 6-2, so we had more options with hitters, which was nice.”
Rounding out the rotation for the Wyverns, senior Lindsay Bailey and junior Kata Mesterhazy dominated the frontcourt as middle hitters, accompanied by senior right side hitter Naomi Wong and sophomore outside hitter Ava Cashman. To complete the lineup, the back row contained junior setter Jillian Plaut and sophomore libero Allie Acaro, both of whom amassed strong individual seasons.
Moving toward their final stretch of games, KO defeated Kent School, Miss Porter’s School, and Berkshire School. Additionally, the Wyverns earned a pivotal win, defeating the Suffield Academy Tigers 3-1.
“This year, we beat Suffield at home, and then we also beat them at their home gym, which was really big for us because they had a very large student section,” Wong said. “It proved to us that we didn’t need the home advantage to win, and we didn’t let the student section get in our heads.”
A week later, on Wednesday, Nov. 3, the KO Volleyball program held its Dig-Pink game, raising money for breast cancer awareness, while preparing for a highly-anticipated match against the Loomis Chaffee Pelicans. With fans in the stands and a locked-in squad, the KO Wyverns looked to upset a top team in New England but, unfortunately, fell to them in four sets. “We had an incredible match against Loomis for our Dig-Pink game,” Coach McDonald said. “They were a really strong team, and we played well against them.”
Primed for a late season run, the Wyverns were awarded the #4 seed in the NEPSAC Class B Volleyball Tournament, where they would host a first-round matchup against the #5-seeded Newton Country Day School. Unfortunately, the hopes of a championship were quickly dashed, as Newton defeated the squad in three straight sets.
However, the KO volleyball team ended the season with an impressive 12-5 record, dominating their opponents with a dynamic frontcourt and a staunch back row. The Wyverns will hope to reload and recover next season, but for now, they can relish in their achievements, ending the fall sports season with the best record on campus.
