The home gym of the Munster Mustangs was full of competitive spirit on Tuesday, Aug. 26, as the varsity volleyball team took on one of their toughest rivals. The girls lost a point-for-point battle against Munster, but they did not go down without a fight.
“I think giving up the first two sets kind of affected us. We started off slow, but we came back in the third set; we definitely had the momentum. I’m not too down on us because I thought we came back. [We] always could have improved on little things, but overall, I think we played really well as a team,” Victoria Gardenhire (11) said.
This extremely close five-set match consisted of a loss of 24-26 in the first set and a loss of 20-25 in the second set. After the first two sets, the team fought back to gain wins in the third and fourth sets with scores of 25-14 and 25-20, respectively. The deciding set consisted of some controversial calls by the referees and a ton of energy from the players and fans. It ultimately ended with a loss of 17-19 in the fifth set.
“Overall, we played with a lot of energy at the end, which kept everyone’s spirits up. We believed that we would take the match to five sets, and we did. Although the outcome was not what we hoped for, we have a lot to be proud of from this game,” Rachel Gross (11) said.
Gross as well as many other players stood out on the court during the match. Gardenhire dominated the third set with her serve, libero Alyssa Born (12) consistently kept the ball alive in the back row, Samantha Anderson (11), Alyssa Stepney (12), Alexandria Davids (12), and Julia Kruzan (11) racked up plenty of points offensively, and setter Stephanie Spigolon (11) recorded a few kills herself with tips along with her many assists in the match.
“I commend this whole group. They made this a competitive battle tonight when we could have shut down in the third set and gave it away. They showed a lot of character out there. They showed a lot of fight. They showed a lot of belief in themselves,” Tina Tinberg, varsity head coach, said.
The next home volleyball match will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 2, versus Crown Point in the main gym.
