Last Wednesday the volleyball team started their season with a tough loss to Blue Valley North. Head coach Susan Specht was proud of her team’s effort during their first performance.
“I thought we came out really strong,” Specht said. “We were excited to play on our home court and we did a lot of good things the 1st game. However we lacked and struggled on passing and servicing in the second set.”
The two teams battled it out for four sets. While NW claimed the first set, BVN battled back to win the last three. Both Specht and senior co-captain Rhiannon Wilhite noted the team’s lack of unity as a possible reason for the team’s loss.
“I think we played well our first set,” Wilhite said. “We really came together and fed off of each other’s energy, and that gave us a win. The next three sets were not so hot because everyone started to get down on themselves and not play as a team.”
Specht was not discouraged by the team’s loss to BVN, who took third at state in 2015.
“We’ve got lots to improve on, but that can be a good thing,” Specht said. “We can set our sights on something and then go for it. We’re going to work on passing, servicing, and working more as a unit on the court.”
Specht is appreciative of the team’s hard work ethic and willingness to improve, as witnessed during their offseason workouts.
“They worked really hard this summer and the two weeks before our first game,” Specht said. “We did a lot of volleyball stuff, a lot of weights and conditioning, so they definitely put in the work. I was really proud of them for that.”
This season will be Specht’s first as head coach, although she has coached many of the varsity players before when they were on JV. Specht is confident her team has what it takes to be successful.
“I think we have a lot of very versatile players,” Specht said. “This allows us to mix up our lineups a lot and throw different people in different places to kind of throw the other teams off. Having a lot of players that can do a lot of different things is probably one of our biggest strengths.”
Now that the first game is under their belt, Wilhite and the rest of her team will look to learn from the mistakes made in their first game and focus on the rest of the season. The team’s next game is Sept. 7 at Emporia High School at 4 p.m.
“I’m looking forward to just being on the court,” Wilhite said, “Playing the sport I love and supporting my teammates and getting some wins.”