JV started the night off on a high note, winning their first set by a large margin, 25-18. Their strength seemed to weaken, however, as they progressed into their second set. They couldn’t quite get a good lead and ended up with a close loss with a score of 23-25. In the final tie-breaker set the Bruins were determined to pull through and finish the game with heads held high. The girls took charge and won by six, 25-19.
With their satisfied JV teammates encouraging them from the sidelines, the varsity team took the floor. Throughout the entire first set the girls clung tightly to their opponents lead, only trailing by a few in the beginning, 11-13. However, just as JV seemed to have a foot stuck in the mud in their second set, varsity also had trouble making headway. Though they tied up the game several times, the team finished out the first set behind only slightly, 23-25. Sophomore Bailey Lawson played for varsity in this game and said that the team used this first set as a motivator.
“It got us a little mad and more intense,” Lawson said. “Now we knew how they’d play and what we could do to get them off their game.”
The girls seemed to get their game straight as they headed into their second set because they knew that if they didn’t do well here and pull out a win, it would all be over. They gathered all their strength and made headway with a score of 16-9 halfway through the second set. It wasn’t over yet; they continued to pursue their lead and finished out the second set with a score of 25-14. This secured them a third set against the Vikings.
“I think we did well. I mean we won, but it took awhile for us to get our momentum,” Lawson said. “It was the same for JV and varsity.”
In the final set of the evening, the Bruins made every pass, set and spike count. They focused on ball placement and eliminating all errors. Within the first couple of minutes they were already taking the lead by storm. About halfway through, the score came pretty close, with RBHS still ahead 17-14. It stayed tight for the remainder of the game, but Bruins succeeded in another win with a final score of 25-23.
“Everyone contributed, whether [they] were serving, on the bench, or at the net,” Lawson said. “Everyone was giving as much energy as possible.”
By Brittany Cornelison
