The City High bleachers were packed on Tuesday night with fans waiting to watch the annual Battle of the Spike. The competition between the Little Hawks and the Trojans was important to both schools; West wanting to keep the prized trophy and City wanting to redeem themselves from last year’s battle.

“It’s [time] to get the spike back,” Cecilia Aldrich-Ingram ‘20 said before the match. “We have to get the spike back,”

The first match started out well and it seemed like the two teams were pretty evenly matched. The score was fairly even, with City in the lead one volley and West in the lead the next. The first set ended 21-25 to West. The second two sets followed the outcome of the first one with a “tug-of-war” occurring from both sides of the net. Despite City’s valiant efforts, West won these sets with the scores of 25-20 and 25-16.

“When we drop our mental focus, we make a lot of mistakes,” Head Coach Craig Pitcher said about the team’s loss. “There was a glimpse of [the team] definitely taking steps forward.”