East’s Varsity girls volleyball, break the school record for varsity season wins after securing their 21st win this season, winning 2-0 against Plainfield North.
Going into the game, senior right side hitter Sam Trujillo said how the girls knew that this conference match could make or break their chance for a conference title, a title East has never received before.
“This is the match we have been prepping for all season. They’re definitely our biggest conference rivals. Since they took us out in the regional championship last year we knew this game would be super personal for us. Our goal has always been to bring home the conference title.” Trujillo said.
Additionally, winning this match also breaks the school record for most wins in a season.
To prepare for this match, the Wolves had to identify where they could improve while also learning how North plays as well. To win, communication remained necessary amongst the girls, but their mindsets going into the game were crucial in securing this win, said senior setter Savina Trujillo.
“Going into the game, I knew we needed to win, and I had to do my part as a setter to give my hitters the best opportunity to score, and I knew our connection had to be on point,” Sav. Trujillo said. “Our energy in the match was amazing, being able to cheer for each other and bring each other up made our level of play much higher. Having good energy helps us all play much more confident.”
While the Wolves won set one, scoring 25-20 against North, set two presented more difficulties for the team. While the Wolves fell behind North throughout the second game, the Wolves were able to catch up and secure their win of the second set and entire match, with a final score 26-24. Despite East and North’s scores being much closer the second set, the girls maintained their winning mindset, says team captain and libero, Chloe Austin.
“We let them go on a couple serving runs and we just couldn’t put a hit down for a while, creating a large score gap we had to make up for. While to spectators the score alone may have looked discouraging, we didn’t let it bring us down and continued to try our best because we knew we could win. We were down in the second set for sure but we fought tooth and nail to finish the match in two sets,” Austin said.
Overall, despite any troubles in the beginning of the second set, the Wolves managed to come out on top, ultimately due to their communication with each other and determination which lead to a 9-1 scoring run for the Wolves.
“Although we were down in the 2nd set, nobody was playing panicked or scared, we knew that we could beat them if we kept playing our best volleyball and we did,” Sav. Trujillo said. “We can improve on not getting ourselves in holes in the early stages of the game, although a 9-1 point comeback in the second set is exciting, so we can work on keeping our game consistent.”
Now that the Wolves have won this match, head coach Dina Beamon says there are going to be big changes for the team.
“This game was different because we were both undefeated in conference and they [North] have dominated the conference the past couple of seasons. This win changes the rest of the season moving forward because we are now currently the only undefeated team in our conference and just gives us the ammunition to keep fighting for the number one spot moving forward,” Dina Beamon, head girls volleyball coach said.
While this win presents the Wolves with more opportunities to compete and further develop their legacy, it also presents them with room for improvement to guide them through regionals.
The wolves will play their next conference match Thursday, October 6 at Plainfield Central High School.
Aryanna Griffin is a staff writer for Oswego East’s online news magazine The Howl