The atmosphere was filled with tension as the volleyball team took its place opposite the net against the crosstown Hickman Kewpies Oct. 13. There was no doubt that the RBHS seniors were determined to win: they were determined to make senior night not only a celebration of their time at RBHS, but also a celebration of a victory in a huge rivalry game.
In the match that followed, it was clear that both teams weren’t going to give up a single play. The scoreboard was an ever-shifting seesaw of points. The Lady Bruins would go up a couple of points, and then Hickman would swoop in and tie up the score. Relaxation simply wasn’t an option. Spectators were on the edge of their seats; nothing could be taken for granted.
Eventually, because of several mix-ups with the rotation, RBHS slipped behind in the first match and never fully recovered.
“Obviously with it being senior night I was hoping for the win. We’ve been progressing so much and that was really what I was hoping for, a win against a big rival,” Head Coach Aaron Kincaid said. “[I’d like to work on] communication. We were confused many times tonight, and I don’t know why that was but it all boils down to communicating more.”
Dropping the match in two straight, there were plenty of reasons to be disappointed. Senior Tylee Schnake, however, believes her team’s biggest strength was its optimism.
“We were getting chewed out by our coach a lot. There was a lot of mix-ups with the plays,” Schnake said. “But every time I went in ,there would be Maddie [Cleeton] giving me our little bro high five; there would be Ellie [Rodgers] smiling; there would be [Savannah] Schnabel smiling. So it was nice.”
Schnake’s co-captain, senior Blake Metz, also looked at the bright side and believes the problems that costed them the win are superficial.
“It was chaotic tonight, we messed up our rotation a few times but that can be easily fixed. I think [we should’ve] brought it together at the end there,” Metz said. “[But] I thought we were really great with our serving. If you can’t serve, you can’t play. So I’m really proud of my girls.”
As the crowd filed out and as the team took a breather, there wasn’t an overwhelming sense of disappointment. It had been a game well fought with 110 percent effort put in by the players.
“We have four awesome seniors. They are just thoroughly good, they have a lot of leadership and a lot of other positive attributes; they are just flat out good players. That is the thing I want everyone to know, Kincaid said. “If you weren’t here, you missed some great seniors.”
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