Volleyball wins first home game of the season
photo by Haley Hibdon
The team celebrates the final point of the game. The final score of the third set was 25-23
The time was 8:19 and the score was 24-23, the game was currently 2-0, tensions were high. Plant City hits the ball onto Hagerty’s side of the court, junior libero Alondra Garcia digs the ball, giving it to right senior setter Emily Lawrence. Lawrence pushes the ball out to junior outside Alina Carrillo. Carrillo takes the shot, sending the ball soaring towards Plant’s block. The ball makes contact with the blocker’s fingertips, making every one of the player’s hearts race, then the ball shoots backward, landing right behind the blockers and sending Plant’s players diving to the ground.
The varsity volleyball team took the win, 3-0, against Plant City on Aug. 22, after junior outside Alina Carrillo scored the final point of the game with a hit, sending the other team diving to the ground.
“I think they did a fantastic job of playing as a team,” Coach Juanita Hitt said. “That is one of the many things they are really good at and probably the most important,”
Senior setter Emily Lawrence led the team with 29 assists, while Carrillo had five kills and 14 digs. Senior middle Audrey Douglas also had eight kills to lead the team to victory.
The team expected strong competition but still believed they had an advantage over Plant – they had prepared extensively for this game. They had worked on a lot of serve-receive in practice, so they were able to compete with a team as highly ranked as Plant.
“Playing this team last year during regional finals was a tough loss because it was also the final game for the seniors who graduated last year. I think that most of us being seniors this year really makes us want to leave everything out in the court because it’s our last opportunity to represent our school,” Lawrence said.
The team was desperate to defeat Plant after they had lost to them in the regional finals last season. The seven seniors on the team this year were determined to gain redemption after last year.
“Playing Plant is always a lot of fun, and beating them in our first week of the season felt amazing,” Lawrence said.
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