The volleyball team placed 3rd in the Allison Weston invitational at Papillion LaVista South this past weekend, as well as beating Lincoln North Star in three sets on Thursday.
The Warriors came off of a loss in four sets against the Titans, the #1 team in the state. The Warriors beat them in the first set and kept it close in the second, but couldn’t hold on in the last two sets. The first set win gave them confidence going into a tournament where they had the opportunity to play them again.
Senior Eleanor Brislen reflects on the game and how they played.
“I think it just made us even hungrier than we already were to beat them again,” Brislen said. “Looking at our pool the first day, we knew we had a pretty good chance, if we played how we normally played, to move up, which means we would play them. And that’s what happened. I think that just made us even more excited to get the chance to beat them. We didn’t beat them, but we beat Lincoln SouthWest who we’ve lost twice to.”
The Warriors beat the #3 team in the state, Lincoln Southwest, in the tournament, proving the competitiveness that the team has shown throughout the season. That competitiveness comes from 1st year Head Coach Andrew Wehrli, who’s emphasis on getting the players a lot of reps has improved their play. As well as reps, Wehrli’s philosophy of keeping the team together with their chemistry, on and off the court.
“I think it’s helped us a lot. We hold each other accountable to being a good teammate on and off the court. We’ve really come together this year in a way that we haven’t previously. It’s just started to happen. It’s neat to see and neat to be a part of,” Brislen said.
One of the hard parts of tournament play is endurance, as the teams have to play multiple games a day, often against some of the best teams in the state. The Warriors showed that they can be competitive against those highly ranked teams when they’re tired, and that gives them the confidence to play the same way, if not better against those teams when they’re rested.
“I think we kind of all knew that on the second day we were tired and coming into a game with fresh legs would be a better situation. I think it motivated us to see that we can beat these good teams on a day that we are tired, what can we do when we’re not tired and have fresh legs,” Brislen said.
The Warriors will play a 9-8 Millard South team on Tuesday, October 3rd. They will attempt to improve to 9-7.
