In a total of three sets JV White Volleyball brought all of their strength to the table taking home a win 2-1 against the Stony Point Tigers on Friday, Sept. 19. Despite an ongoing back and forth fight the Warriors maintained a sharp mindset throughout all sets, acting as a catalyst to their victory.

“Believing in myself no matter what happened whether I missed a point I was just going to keep that attitude no matter what,” Lucy Aldrete ‘28 said. “Keeping that mentality means trusting in my teammates.”

Starting the first set off with a bang, Liberty Hargrave ‘29 sneaks in a kill, throwing the Tigers off their tracks. However, the Tigers quickly bounced back and readjusted with multiple kills to answer the Warriors early point. These constant hits coming from the opposing side led the Warriors to fall short in their reaction time, losing opportunities to dive for balls and creating a passage for well placed hits from the Tigers. Attempting to keep up, now only behind by three, Kimmie Menendez ‘29 kicks the ball rather than dive for it at an incoming hit from the Tigers.This gave the Warriors a boost of energy, but not enough to finish on top of set one. The final score of the first set was 18-25.

“At that point you could tell both teams were fighting and the other team was giving us so many kills,” Menendez said. “I kicked the ball out because of how intense the set was but we definitely were going to keep going despite the loss.”

In the hot seat now, the Warriors knew they needed to win this set to have a chance at taking home their Homecoming game victory. In the brief period of time before the second set, Coach Thailing was setting his team up for success by providing feedback and overall a sense of positivity for the Warriors to carry with them in this next set. Starting off strong with three consecutive kills by Lucy Aldrete ‘28 the Warriors led with a four nothing run. Stony Point, carrying exceptional team cohesion, manages to redeem themselves by reciprocating the Warriors strong kills. The Warriors, not willing to give up a potential victory, strike a kill by Audrey Winders ‘29 after the Tigers bind the Warriors in a tie, putting an immediate score of 5-4 on the board. As the Warriors grew in confidence climbing the score board to 13-9 began to make costly mistakes. The Warriors, playing calculated defense, and strong offense, end the second set with a score of 25- 15.

“I was super happy that I got a block and that as a team we locked in and were working hard.” Audrey Winders ‘29 said. “ Even though we lost the first set we came back.”

The Third and final set began with some nerves from the Warriors as they fell to a quick Tiger three point run.However, the Tigers did not hold the Warriors down long, following their run, Aldrete hit three consecutive kills for the Warriors, who caught up with a score of 3-3. The Tigers, feeling threatened, attempt a kill but ultimately fail after another exceptional dive from Elizabeth Zhang ‘29. With a timeout at 12-6 the Stony Point Tigers were feeling the pressure from the Warriors, leading to a rotation change hoping for a potential shift in the outcome of the game. Failing to react to 3 serves from the Warriors, the Stony Point Tigers fall 20-16. Finishing the set out strong the Warriors play exceptional defense while holding steady offense and end with a rapid third set victory of 25-22.

The Warriors will play their next home game against the Vandegrift Vipers on Friday, Sept. 26.