Volleyball Tournament at Truman Ends with a Loss
The volleyball team played in four games in a tournament at Truman High School last Saturday, Oct. 17. Although they may not have achieved their preferred outcome, spirits remained high amongst the difficult losses.
PHOTO | Liv Zender
Junior Anna Sheedy jumps to block the volleyball as a student from William Chrisman High School sets it over the net.
The volleyball team won one of their four games played at Truman High School on Saturday, Oct. 17. They won their third game, played against William Chrisman Highschool, by 25-19 in the first set and 25-23 in the second set. The other three games were lost to Lee’s Summit High School, Raymore-Peculiar High School, and Staley High School. Each game was completed in two sets.
The tournament consisted of a series of games within two pools, the one pool consisting of Lee’s Summit, Raymore-Peculiar, William Chrisman and Sion. The other pool consisted of Lee’s Summit West, Staley, St. Joseph Central and Truman. The first couple games determined who each team would play once they were placed on a bracket.. The volleyball team won their first game on the bracket, but went on to lose the one after that. As disappointing as this was, volleyball coach Brittany Boerigter thinks the team needs to build up their endurance to help win multiple games in a row.
“We are learning how to win this year, and that’s something this program has not seen for awhile,” Boerigter said. “We are trying to translate that to winning more than one match at a time. I think it will come. We can do more.”
This season has also been very different from past seasons, with the effects of COVID-19 leading to some changes in protocol as well. Most games allow little to no spectators and all coaches and players must be wearing masks at all times throughout the games. Senior and varsity volleyball player Shannon Karlin believes that while COVID-19 may not have overly affected their season, she has definitely seen its effects on other teams.
“I think our season has been pretty normal on our side,” Karlin said. “But other teams have cancelled games because of COVID-19 so our schedule has changed a lot.”
The volleyball team has celebrated its fair share of wins and losses throughout this season. However, the improvement they have made is an unanimous opinion among the players and coaches. Sophomore and varsity volleyball player Isabel Dumsky believes that the new coaching staff has been a large contributor to this year’s improvement.
“As well, the new coaching staff had brought a great amount of energy and commitment by making us more goal-oriented when playing.” Dumsky said. “Ultimately we have improved this season because of the positive mindsets and the want to have fun and compete.”