Fighting until the last match, varsity volleyball suffered a close defeat at the hands of DeLand on Tuesday, Oct. 22. DeLand took home the victory and got to move on to their second district game while Hagerty was eliminated from the race to states.

“We went into the game feeling pumped and ready to go,” junior Nicole Mattson said. “We went out there and played for the seniors.”

Losing 21-25 and 22-25 in the first two sets, the team stayed in the game, keeping it close with DeLand. In the third set, however, the team lost, 15-25. Hitting  0.078 in the entire match, the team was not making a strong offense.  Defense proved their stronger point in the match, but it was not enough to pull through.

“We were pretty frustrated because I think we could have played better and given more effort,” Mattson said.

For the underclassman and juniors, losing districts meant they would come out tougher next season, but for the seniors it was a disappointing way to end their last high school season.

“I would say the seniors were very disappointed. We all wanted to go out on a high note and it wasn’t what we hoped for,” senior Sarah Whipple said.

At 13-12, varsity volleyball finished with a winning record. However, the past two weeks have been hard on the team, losing five games in a row – in three sets each – to Spruce Creek, Seminole, Lake Mary, Oviedo, and finally DeLand.

“We remembered earlier in the season we had a losing streak and came out of it,” Whipple said. “We were excited to break it again.”

Regardless of the disappointing finish, the end of the season provided experience for next year’s returners, like sophomore Brianna Baez, who moved up from JV to participate in districts and prepare for varsity next year.

“I was happy I had the opportunity to play with such a good group of girls during their last game,” Baez said. “I look up to a lot of them and playing my first varsity game was really fun!”