The Ball In Our Court

Ashlynn Ruble

The week before fall break, Dalat’s soccer and volleyball teams had their biggest  tournament of the season, ACSC. The volleyball girls had ACSC at home, where we hosted the rest of the teams.

The week consisted of many activities, such as the opening ceremony, the cultural night, volleyball games, and the closing banquet on the last night. After a week of playing hard and getting to know other teams, it was great to have a night where we ate dinner together and released floating lanterns over the ocean. A common highlight from ACSC is often spending time with other people and getting to know other teams, while also playing them in intense competition. Often, the tournament is a learning and growing experience for every individual both on and off the court.

During the ACSC tournament, our team was pushed very hard, but still managed to show incredible perseverance and focus on the court. There were times where positions were switched from what our players had practiced, but everyone stepped up to the challenge and did their best. Even with obstacles like soreness, sickness, and injuries, we were able to play our game and do our best. One example is that one of our outside hitters switched to middle hitter and completely showed her dominance in that position, especially considering that the middle was often a target for the other teams.

Having ACSC at home was a fun experience because we had supporters at every game cheering us on, and we were able to share some of our lives and culture with the other teams. It was an emotional tournament because most of our team is seniors, but that also made the experience even more special. One of our seniors, Carissa Hoffmeyer said “Most people were sad that our last year of ACSC was home, but for me I loved the opportunity to show the other teams around Penang and play for the last time on our court, in our gym.”

Although our goal was to be top four in the tournament and we ended in fifth, we fought hard and it was a great end to a season of hard work and investment of both time and effort into volleyball and every individual on the team.