Junior Heidi Johnson spikes over Bradshaw Christian High School’s block while senior Lea Gorny provides support.
The energetic team and exhilarated crowd in the overheated Country Day gym created an intense atmosphere, but was not enough to launch the varsity volleyball team into victory on Aug. 28.
Unable to overthrow Bradshaw Christian High School, the girls lost their first game of the season.
Aside from the excruciating heat, the game started off well for the girls, who won the first set, 25-13.
However, Bradshaw pulled ahead in the second set, beating Country Day, 25-20.
Bradshaw then won the third set, 25-19.
Country Day made an impressive comeback towards the end of the final set, but it was not enough to overthrow their opponents, and they lost, 25-21, ending the game.
According to sophomore Bri Davies, the loss was partially due to trouble moving on from mistakes.
“When we had high energy, we played great, but when our energy was low, it was really hard for us to bring it back up,” Davies said.
Senior Yasmin Gupta agreed.
“Some people were getting really down on themselves (when they made) forced errors,” Gupta said.
“We stopped playing as a team and started playing as individuals.”
Both Davies and Gupta admitted that Bradshaw is a tough opponent.
“I knew that our team was strong this year, but I also knew that Bradshaw Christian was going to be good competition,” Davies said.
Gupta said that the girls need to improve their passing.
“A lot of the passes were really tight to the net,” Gupta said.
Coach Jason Kreps agreed that they need to improve on passing and serving but also said that for their first game, they did well.
“(They) played with intensity, and it was all-around good volleyball,” Kreps said.
“We had some good service runs, minimal errors and played with high energy.”
He said that they need to focus on working with and getting used to each other.
“It was only their third or fourth week together, (and they need to) learn how to mesh,” Kreps said.
The team has two new players, sophomore Jewel Turner and junior Kyra LaFitte, as well as new positions for juniors Bella Mathisen and Tori Van Vleck, who are now playing right side.
Kreps also said that, because this game was a foundation game, it was a good chance to involve everyone and work everything out.
Their next game is on Thursday, Aug. 31, against Forest Lake Christian School at home at 5:00 p.m.
—By Anna Frankel
