Volleyball Wins Lansing Tournament

Photo courtesy of SME Office

Last weekend, the volleyball team won the Lansing tournament – their first tournament win of the season. The team was expecting to perform well since they won the tournament last year, and the girls thought they had a good shot at the victory if they played cohesively. Not only did they win, but the girls went undefeated all day.

“We knew we had a very good opportunity to win the tournament,” Coach Patty Phillips said. “Since we won last year, we walked in pretty confident.”

According to Phillips, the girls came out strong and ready for a great match.

“It was a great match,” varsity player and junior Ally Huffman said. “They were a pretty scrappy team and were really smart with the ball.”

Some of the girls play with Lansing’s players on club teams such as Mavs, so the girls knew how the opposing team would be. The Lancers knew the other team’s tendencies offensively, as well as defensively.

“Knowing the girls definitely helped because we could almost anticipate the next play,” Huffman said. “We knew most of the girls were on the shorter side so that definitely gave us an edge.”

The team won the first two matches of the day in two sets each. After their two victories, the team played DeSoto and the game was pushed to three sets, but the girls came out with another victory. In the final match of pool play, the girls played Seaman and the win put them in first place to start in the tournament bracket. The team won a challenge match with SM West to advance to the championship game. The girls won the match against Lansing in two sets.

“The best part was taking home the plaque for the trophy case,” Phillips said. “All the girls played hard and had a goal to win!”