Country Day’s volleyball season ended Nov. 2 after a 3-1 loss to Forest Lake Christian in the California Interscholastic Federation Sac-Joaquin Girls Volleyball playoffs semifinal.
The varsity team ended the season with a 9-3 record, coming in second place in its league.
Jason Kreps, the varsity volleyball coach, was proud of how the team played in their final game.
“I think they played the best they know. That’s all I could ask for as a coach,” Kreps said.
“You know, the other team was really good,” he said. “We made more errors. They put the ball where they needed to, so they deserved to win, but we were fighting, and that’s what I love to see.”
Kreps said the stand-out players of the game were sophomore libero Zoe Genetos, setter Kaitlyn Dias and senior Vanessa Escobar, outside hitter and captain.
“Zoe was consistently playing great defense. Kaitlyn was like a quarterback, making sure everything is easier for everyone, and Vanessa played a spectacular game and had several good kills,” Kreps said.
Escobar was proud of the team for making it to semifinals because of how the bulk of the team was made up of new players.
“The majority of the team consists of sophomores and freshmen with only three seniors and one junior. The team was really, really young. We were still learning to rotate on the court and hitting the ball correctly,” Escobar said.
Junior outside hitter Haylee Holman said that communication was the team’s greatest problem.
“That’s where most of our errors came from,” Holman said.
For seniors Escobar, Zola Grey and Vivian Conner, the game served as the last game they’ll play in high school.
Escobar said that she would definitely play volleyball in the future on a recreational team, or a college team or just for fun, but advice Escobar would give to any team is to always stay positive.
“You can’t have a bad mental state about playing the game. It’ll affect your performance on the court. If you just think positively you’ll be fine,” Escobar said.
For middle blocker Conner, the game was a “bittersweet” ending to her time playing volleyball in high school.
Conner hopes to play volleyball in college if she has the opportunity.
“I’ve been thinking about that a lot — doing sports in college,” Conner said.
“It’s a lot more competitive to get onto a team. It’s professional sort of. I’m nowhere near that level. But I love doing these sports: volleyball, basketball, etc.”
Conner said you don’t need to have skills to enjoy a sport — just heart.
—Ishaan Sekhon
Originally published in the Nov. 16 edition of the Octagon.
