Day 2 Newsletter - St. John's International School

FRIDAYThe Lions Take a Bite Out of the WarriorsIn the 1st St. John’s started off strong, withmany blocks and tips from Sigal Jacobs, #1. Frankfurtstruck back with a 4-0 run, due to #6, HalleyCallahan’s great serves. The Lions answered andquickly with a 5-0 run, thanks to well organized playsfrom #14, Sydney Smith. St. John’s managed tokeep the lead with a wonderful ace from #20, ElisabethMichaletz, and more great plays. The Warriors’Nicola Betz,#10 fought back with many blocks.The Lions earned the victory in 1st set after NicoleBake’s tip over the net.The 2nd set began with an 8-0 run for St.John’s, heavily due to Sigal Jacobs, #1, blocks andspikes. The run was kept alive thanks to SydneySmith, #14 and her reliable serving. STJ managedto stay ahead thanks to the setting of Sydney Smith.The warriors fought back but it was too late as theLions secured the win. Throughout the whole gamethe Lions’ Anna Sather, #15, kept the team togetherwith constant encouragement and communication.The final score was 2-0 for St. John’s.By Marcial Colmenares, grade 9And now the Trojans, tooOn the first day, the Cobham InternationalSchool’s (COB) Cougars mauled both the AmericanSchool of Paris’ Rebels and the Frankfurt InternationalSchool’s Warriors; and it’s the AmericanSchool of the Hague’s (ASH) Trojans’ turn to bemauled.The game started off strongly, with the Cougar’sOlivia Obaseki (#1) and Alexandria Stantifirdand the Trojans’ Kelly Fonderson and Haley Bitzerscoring points for their team through a series ofspikes and serves. Fonderson, in particular, hadgreat digging skills, but in the end the Cougars tookthe first set with a score of 25—16.The second set kicked off just as fiercely withan excellent serve from the Trojans’ Juliette Kool.Stantifird dominated the game by scoring over 6points for her team. Obaseki and Kirsten Eriksonalso scored many points for the Cougars, but somewere blocked by the Trojans’ Claudia Fernandez andLaura van Kuyck’s defense and quick reflexes, whilethose that were not were somewhat evened out withFernandez and Isobel Maddock’s scoring quite afew points of their own. In the end, only one teamcould win, and that turned out to be the Cougars,who ended the game with the score of 25—21.By Beatrice Lim, grade 9

Lions roar at reigning championsStarting of the second day of the ISST’s , itwas St John’s second game of the day against ASP.In the first set of the game ASP takes a good leadagainst St Johns. Number 1 Sigal Jacobs doesn’tmake it easy for them by bringing back to backspikes helping her team tie with up ASP. With ASP’sconsistency they took the first set 25 to 12.Right out the gate of the second set St johnstakes the lead with two monster spikes to start itoff. In the middle of the set ASP gets it together totie it up with the Lions, neither team wanting to letthis game slip through their fingers. Number 3 JuliaGallagher-Teske, Spark of the game, helps St John’sstay in it with her superb blocks. However, St Johns’was not able to overcome their fierce competitorgiving ASP the win 25 to 19. At the end of the gamewe got to talk to the spark of the game Julia Gallagher-Teske.She said they played well and there wasa lot on the line for third place position. Julia told usthat the end was nerve wrecking and frustrating. TheLions had a great game and will continue to keeptheir spirits high to place well in the ISST’s.By Owen Gagnon and Jonah Tewes McCoy, gr. 9The Rebels rout the TrojansThe game to determine the 2nd and 3rd place ofthe semi-finals began with an impressive drum-accompaniedcheer for the American School of Paris’(ASP) Rebels, with them ending up as the winnersof the game against the American School of theHague’s (ASH) Trojans by clinching all three setsplayed.The first set saw a very close match, withCaroline Sheehey (#7) and Anne Halverstadt (#3)scoring many points for the Rebels, along withteammates Alex Helwig (#6) and Hailey OnuscheckA(#10). However, for majority of the time,the Trojans were able to keep level with themthrough Laura van Kuyck (#7) and Madeline RoseShirley (#9)’s serves and Isobel Maddock’s (#12)excellent blocking skills. However, it was the Rebelsthat took the first set.The second set saw a whole slew of points,at least 7 being scored by St Johns’ Spark of theGame, the Rebels’ Halverstadt. The Trojans foughtwell, hitting back with points from Haley Bitzer(#11) and van Kuyck, but once again, the Rebelsdefeated them with the final score of the set being25—16.The third set was the closest set of all. Atfirst, the Rebels seemed to be winning almost immediately,but the Trojans quickly stepped up theirgame, mostly thanks to Juliette Kool (#2). However,nearthe end, the Rebels managed to edgeforward with Sheehey and Onuscheck, finishingthe third set with the score of 25—23.On the final day of the ISSTs, the Trojanswill fight for the 3rd place against St Johns’ Lions,while the rebels will duke it out with Cobham InternationalSchool’s Cougars for the ultimate prize:the championship.By Beatrice Lim

The Cougars Outroar the LionsThe Cougars, in the first set, began the gamestrong with an 8-0 run, caused by #12, AlexandraStantfird’s incredibly hard to block spikes. St. John’smanaged to piece together a nice run, but it was toolate for the kings of the jungle.. The 1st set went totheCougars; final score being 25-10.The Cougars cam out aggressive in the 2ndset but the lions fought back with a nice string ofpoints. However the Cougars powered through dueto #14, Kristen Erickson and #1, Olivia Obaseki’s incrediblespikes. The lions tried to catch up, but sadlyfor them they couldn’t pull out a victory in the 2ndset. The score for the 2nd set was 25-14 for Cobham.The Cougars didn’t come out so hot in the 3rdset, and the Lions found themselves in the leadfor the first time of the game. St. Johns then carriedon with an impeccable 5-0 run, credited to NicoleBake, #9 and her great serves. The game was extremelyclose, at this point. There were various leadchanges and ties. Although Cobham started to heatup the Lions stayed in the game heavily due to JuliaGallagher-Teske, #3 and her wonderful blocking.Cobham finished off strong, clinching the spot for thechampionship game. The final score was 3-0 for theCougars.Zach Arnold/Marcial Colmenares

Spark Of The GameThe St. John’s Spark of the Game was Sigal Jacobs, #1 whoscored points consistently throughout the entire game. She hadscored most of the points in the 8-0 run during the 2nd set, andprevented points from being scored with clutch blocks.Number 3 Julia Gallagher-Teske, Spark of the game,helps St John’s stay in it with her superb blocks againstchampionship holders ASP.The St. John’s Spark of the Game was KellyFonderson, #8 of The Hague. Althoughthe Trojans were defeated by the Cougars,her great play was unmatched throughoutthe game. She showcased her dedicationto her team, by her dives and excellentserves.The second set saw a wholeslew of points, at least 7 beingscored by St Johns’ Spark ofthe Game, the Rebels’ AnneHalverstadt.The St. John’s Spark of the Game was KristenErickson, #14 who aided her team with herincredible spiking, and quality serves. She alsohugely helped the cougars secure the 2nd set,which led them to win their game over a talentedSt. John’s team, and a spot in the championshipgame.All photos by Zacharay Arnold, Franco Vassilev and Rolf-Vidar W Johansen