Coming off of an impressive weekend at the Varsity Lafayette Tournament where they went undefeated, the boys volleyball team has to fight to keep their season alive.
Outside hitter Jimmy Siterlet (11) reached an impressive achievement becoming the number one hitter in the country. Setter Nicholas Hostetter (11) has also had an outstanding season sitting at 7 in the country with assists. The team has played spectacular this season reaching a record of 26-6.
Preparing for districts is what the Eagles are focusing on the most, their first game of districts is against North Point. Districts this year is being held at North Point, while the team already took down the Grizzlies in the den, it won’t be easy an easy match.
“We have now beat every team in our district, the odds are in our favor. If they are prepared mentally and don’t worry about failure and the fear of failure, then we have no limits,” Coach Veronica Kirkpatrick said.
The team has potential for greatness, however, there will always be struggles for every single team.
“After one bad serve receive, our back row crumbles and you need a good pass to start the play,” Leo Fournell (11) said.
One struggle the team has consistently had is their blocking. Blocking will be essential to win any game from districts and on. The middle blockers on the team have struggled reading the setter and getting to the spot to block. While improving on these things, they are still not where they need to be at this point in the season.
Another big concern for the team is their serve receive. Every play starts with serve receive and sets up any possible play the team can run. Without a good first pass, the team goes out of system, meaning the setter has to make a challenging set or even if the pass is so bad someone in the back row has to pass it to a hitter. When teams go out of system, there are only two possible hitters, the outside and opposite hitter. Another problem that arises with out of system is if the setter is in the front row they offense can really only go to the outside.
While the team does have some major flaws, they have defied expectations and hope to keep things going through districts. Go support your Eagles in their first round of districts at North Point High School. First serve starts at 7 p.m. on Monday, May 11. Make sure to wear your black for the blackout theme.
