On Tuesday, Sept. 17, the JV Orange volleyball team faced the Vandergrift Vipers, but lost 2-0. In the first set, the Lady Warriors started strong but fell back a few points, not winning the set. Following this loss, they played hard to keep the score from falling, and had little communication, and in the end, could not finish strong.

“That was probably one of the worst games that we have played. We did really bad,” Melani Helms ‘22 said. “Our communication was really low and I think that we were intimidated by Vandegrift.”

Starting the first set strong, the Lady Warriors earned the first point after the Vipers served. Vibha Velur ‘23 spiked the ball multiple times to keep the team from falling behind. Later on, just as the ball was about to hit the ground, Helms reached far to save it and earned the point for the Warriors, but still falling behind at 7-4. Before a quick timeout, Alex Kriz ‘23 spiked the ball down and secured another point, putting the Warriors up 12-11. After the girls had a quick pep talk, they began to continue on with the game. Trinity Woods ‘23 and Claire Delane ‘23 spiked the ball down on the Vipers, earning a point, but the Warriors were still behind, 19-16. Phia Parent ‘22 carefully tipped the ball over the net many times, gaining even more points. Towards the end of the set, the Vipers struck the Warriors hard through many easy points, even though the Warriors worked as hard as they could. 

“We just gave them too many free balls, so when you would pass the ball over the net instead of attacking it, hitting it,” Coach Amber Hall said. “It’s really hard to defend when you give them the opportunity to swing really hard at you and earn the point.”

With the loss of the first set by a score of 25-19, the Warriors were down, yet still confident that there could be a potential win. During the entire second set, all team members earned points through aggressive spikes from Catherine Ray ‘22, Emma Trail ‘22, and Velur, which were strong and followed through with the increase in the score. The ball was close to hitting the ground many times, but were saved by Lauren Wood ‘21, Trail, and Velur. The Vipers caught up towards the end of the set, and won the set with a final score of 25-16. Despite losing, the Lady Warriors have high hopes in winning against Vista Ridge on Friday, Sept 20.

“It will be another really difficult game,” Hall said. “We have played them before and we actually beat them so they’re going to be pumped and we got to make sure we are trained to win.”