Team Work Makes the Dream Work

Sarah Lee

On Monday, September 10th, the varsity volleyball guys and girls were up against the Chung Ling High School volleyball teams.

Usually, Mondays are filled with students struggling to wake up and come to terms that the weekend is over, but that wasn’t the case for our varsity volleyball athletes. They had to be alert and ready to move around quickly on the court, calling out for balls that were out or tipping over the net.

Although the games were set to start at 4:30pm at the gym, the bleachers started filling up at around 4pm with students and parents who were ready to cheer on our guys and girls. Many players from the girls’ soccer team came to support their peers before their practices that were scheduled at 5:30pm.

Both teams had time on the court before the games started to warm up. Our girls’ volleyball team held a quick prayer before heading out to their allotted time for practice. The guys and girls warmed up by practicing their spikes and serves, while the rival team held a brief meeting. After the time for practice had passed, all the teams lined up at the ends and shook hands wishing each other a fair game.

Tensions were high as Chung Ling was notoriously known to be a tough opponent of good teamwork, and they had taken gold last year at the Spike and Strike tournament. It was also the first home game for the girls’ volleyball team, and everyone was eager to see their teamwork on the court. Players and spectators were filled with anticipation to see how the games would play out.

With the blow of the whistle, the games commenced. With beads of sweat rolling down their faces and shirts, the guys and girls gave it their all against Chung Ling. They looked ready for anything that would come over their side of the net. Onlookers could constantly be seen cheering and sending uplifting messages to the players. The Dalat boys lost all three sets (they played an extra round for fun) while the girls won two sets. Although the Dalat girls lost the first set, they quickly came back with winning the remaining two sets. When asked about their game, Carissa Hoffmeyer (12) replied, “We worked really well as a team during the game and showed a lot of strengths that we have been working on in practice. Also, we overcame some difficult moments and came back from a loss to win the game.”

The handshakes signaled the end of the games, and the boys and girls lined up respectfully towards the bleachers to bow to the crowd. Overall, there were some great rallies and play shown by both teams. Everyone congratulated them on their games, and pretty soon people filled out of the gym animatedly talking about the great plays they’ve seen during the games.