When the chips were down, the Westfield High School girls volleyball team has been in the habit of rising to the occasions. The Blue Devils endured some tough losses and pulled off some impressive victories but stepped up to capture the North Jersey, Section 2, Group 4 title and the North Group 4 title before being stopped by No. 2 Williamstown for the overall Group 4 crown and finishing 21-11.
Last year, the Blue Devils won the Union County Tournament (UCT) title and the sectional title to finish with a 21-5 record. In 2022, the Blue Devils not only won the UCT and their first ever sectional title but went all the way to take out the Old Bridge Knights in three sets to claim the Group 4 crown and finish 24-1.
This season the Blue Devils won their first six games, which included a tense 25-23, 33-31, win over the Kent Place Dragons and an impressive 25-13, 25-23, victory over then No. 11 Sparta. Their first loss came against their county archrival No. 8, Union Catholic Vikings, 25-12, 25–16. The Vikings would go on to win the UCT title and finish 26-4.
That loss was the beginning of a three-game slide, which included No. 1, 28-1, Princeton Tigers and No. 10 Governor Livingston Highlanders. After topping Elizabeth, another three-game slide followed, which included Kent Place, North Hunterdon and Williamstown (finished 32-1). Three straight wins, including No. 15 Hunterdon Central followed.
Later, the Blue Devils dropped a three-set match to Chatham and to No. 9 Old Bridge but got even with Governor Livingston (GL) then to Union Catholic in the Annual “Pink Out” game. Wins over Plainfield and Scotch Plains-Fanwood in the UCT was followed with a loss to GL in the semifinal.
In the final four matches of the regular season, the Blue Devils stopped Cranford, Dickinson and Hillsborough before dropping their last match to Montville in three sets. As the top-seed in the North 2, Group 4 Tournament, the Blue Devils took out Union and Phillipsburg then topped Union City, 25-17, 25-16, for the crown. Next, they ousted No. 12 Morristown, 25-19, 19-25, 25-23, for North Jersey dominance then fell to Williamstown, 25-13, 25-11, for the Group 4 title.
The Blue Devils had a fine mix of seniors with juniors and senior middle blocker Catie Carayannopoulos led the team in blocks with 58, while adding 151 kills, 92 digs, 11 assists and 127 services with 25 aces. Junior setter Emelia Dengler led the team with 501 assists, while adding 109 services with 24 aces, 136 digs, 20 kills and six blocks. Junior outside hitter Ava Gaspard notched 256 kills to lead the team and came up with 187 digs, eight blocks, six assists and 113 services with 40 aces (tied for first).
Junior Libero Audrey Hu scooped 220 digs to lead the team and added 138 services with 30 aces, four kills and 27 assists. Junior outside hitter Vicki Morey notched 133 kills, to go with 160 digs, eight blocks, four assists and 142 services with 40 aces (tied Gaspard). Junior outside hitter Audrey Stack was second in digs with 193, and added 157 services with 17 aces, six kills and eight assists. Senior middle blocker Keira Deignan finished with 34 kills, 16 blocks, 11 digs and three aces. Senior Maddy Coen finished with 30 kills, 17 blocks, 21 digs and a service.
Receiving some playing time, junior Sofia Droskoski had three kills, 10 digs and nine services with an ace. Junior Kelsey Dix had seven digs, 39 assists and six services with three aces. Junior Faith Gorski contributed six services, 34 digs, two assists and a kill. Sophomore Lillian Wood had 13 kills, two blocks, 11 digs and an assist. Junior Grace Moore had seven kills, a block, five digs, an assists and nine services with three aces. Senior Sabrina Muller notched 22 kills to go with 10 blocks, four assists and four services with two aces. Junior Neeva Patel finished with four kills, two digs, a block and eight services with three aces. Junior Julia Janaczak had 11 assists, four digs and four aces.
In the win over Sparta, Gaspard notched nine kills, Carayannopoulos had five blocks, Dengler dished out 14 assists and Morey had 10 services with two aces. Morey had six kills in the first game against Williamstown, while Gaspard had five kills and Dengler had 11 assists. Gaspard hammered 14 kills against Hunterdon Central and Carayannopoulos had five blocks and five kills, while Dengler had 16 assists.
The game with Old Bridge had Morey with eight kills, Gaspard with six, Carayannopoulos with five kills and five blocks, and Dengler with 16 assists. In the win over GL, Morey and Gaspard each notched six kills and Dengler contributed 15 assists. The Pink Out win over Union Catholic had Gaspard with 13 kills and 13 services with seven aces, Dengler with 26 assists and Carayannopoulos with five kills. Gaspard had seven kills and two blocks, Carayannopoulos had three blocks and four kills and Dengler had 20 assists in the win over Union City. Against Morristown, Dengler had 29 assists, Gaspard had 15 kills, Morey had 11 kills and Carayannopoulos notched eight kills.
The Blue Devils do graduate some talented seniors but definitely return a host of very effective athletes, so 2025 could be another knockout year.
