The Westside Warriors varsity volleyball team opened up the Westside Invitational this past Friday, October 16th with a 17-6 Elkhorn Antlers team. They lost 2-0 losing the sets 23-25 and 19-25. Their second game of the day was against a 15-7 Lincoln Southwest Silverhawks team who narrowly beat the Warriors early in the season. The Silverhawks beat the Warriors in two sets both 20-25. This put the Warriors into the consolation bracket for Saturday, October 17th. The Warriors first faced an 8-16 Duchesne Cardinals team. The first three sets were close but then Westside pulled away to win the sets 3-1. Later that morning the Warriors faced the 8-15 Millard North Mustangs in their third matchup against each other this season. But, on Saturday the Mustangs edged out the Warriors 3-0 with all sets being within three points. With the Warriors going 1-3 this past weekend it takes them to an overall record of 13-15, not a place many Warriors players feel they should be at this point.

Junior starter and Montana State volleyball commit Madilyn Siebler believes the tough competition will only help them in the future. 

“We are getting to the point in the season where every point can affect the rest of the year, so from now on these games will feel more high pressure,” Siebler said. 

Sophomore starter Kensington Tekrony was disappointed after the games and is motivated for the Metro Tournament. 

“This weekend didn’t end up as we wanted it to. We wanted some more wins added to our record and we were all disappointed in the losses. We play Millard North again in the first round of Metros and as long as we stay consistent with our play we will have no problem getting to the second round,” Tekrony said. 

The Warriors will face the Mustangs for the fourth time this season in Metros and the series is currently 2-1 in favor of Millard North.

“We’ve watched lots of film and fixed our mistakes. We just need to stay mentally in the game at all times and not take any plays off,” Tekrony said. 

Starting sophomore Samantha Laird is very confident that the team will bounce back after a tough weekend and compete with Millard North.

“We have played them close every time we are really wanting the win because it will give us a better seeding in districts,” Laird said. 

The Warriors look to win big tonight, October 19, and hopefully move on to the second round of metros against Papio LaVista South at 7 p.m. tonight. Westside looks to use their knowledge from their mistakes this past weekend in metros to come out on top over their opponents.