The JV Orange volleyball team fought valiantly against the Round Rock Dragons on Aug. 28, but unfortunately faced a defeat of 0-2. Both sets started off with the teams neck-to-neck, but Round Rock was able to pull ahead and get the victory. However, the team was able to learn a lot from this experience.

“You can’t be timid in the middle of the play. You have to go for everything, and you have to want it a lot,” Melani Helms ‘22 said.

At the beginning of the first set, the scores started off evenly. Some highlights included spikes by Lauren King ‘20, aggressive hits from Erin Fagan ‘22, and libero Jessica Lane ‘21’s digs from across the court. When the score was 10-5, Fagan closed in on the Lady Dragon’s lead by spiking the ball over her shoulder straight into their side of the court. Lauren Wood ‘21 went in for the kill multiple times, but despite the team’s persistent efforts, they weren’t able to win the first set, finishing with a score of 25-16.

The second set started off the same way, neither team going past the other. Round Rock finally pulled ahead, leading the Westwood team to work even harder. In fact, it was actually the best part of the game for one of the players.

“In the very beginning we were just diving for every ball, we were being super scrappy,” King said. “We kept going at it.”

Payton Ferree ‘22 showed off her powerful hitting skills, jumping to gain height and send the ball crashing into the other side. Round Rock’s lead decreased even further with a serve by Madeleine Shrull ‘21, which they weren’t able to return. Despite all the intense playing from the team, Round Rock claimed a victory on the second set as well.

“As a team, we definitely pick each other up whenever we’re down. It just what was a huge issue was that when we were down, we kept getting ourselves down, and didn’t listen to everyone else,” King said.

The JV Orange team’s next game is on Friday, Aug. 31 against the Stony Point Tigers.