Credit to Jazmine Malone-Oldham

The girl’s varsity volleyball team ended the season with 12 wins, 19 losses and one tie. They had faced Central at districts on Oct. 23 and ended up with an 0-3 loss to wrap up the season.

 Although their initial goal was to advance past districts, many players felt they’d achieved other important team goals, including working together to foster unity and resilience. 

“I think in the beginning it was a struggle with all the different age grades, a few new faces this year,”  four-year player and senior Danielle Hall said. “But I think we did pretty good. Right now, we’re more of a team.”

For Kennedy Jones, also a senior and four-year player, the season created a unique goal out of a serious problem: having to quickly recover from a wrist injury she endured during her first practice of the season.

“I really learned not to take my time in the program and me being able to play volleyball for granted because I broke my wrist and it was really hard to sit on the sidelines and watch while everyone was playing,” Jones said.

Not only was Jones determined to get back on the court, but she was determined to catch up with her teammates and work to own her place back on the court through constant points.

“When Kennedy got an amazing kill and everybody fell to the floor,” Hall said. “That was pretty fun and funny.”

The team made sure to stay connected through constant hangouts at one another’s homes and after practice which showed through at their games with positivity and communication.

“Our Fort Zumwalt North game was a really competitive game and everyone was just so supportive of each other everyone was just telling each other that they loved each other that ‘oh my gosh you’re just so good.’ There was just so much positivity that it made it so fun to play on the court with them, “ Jones said. “I was just like ‘wow, I just love this team.’”

As well as expanding their team of players, they’ve received additional help from new coaches adapting to a new style that has improved their abilities. The past season, they had 20 losses, three ties, and eight wins compared to this year with a huge increase in wins like beating Ladue in a game they previously tied in and beating Troy 3-1 where they had previously lost 2-3.

“Last season we got a new coach so a goal in general was just to rebuild the program and build it up from what it was, so this season I feel like we done very good kinda just building up the community and the positivity of the program and kinda just fixing our record and refining our skills,” Jones said.