The volleyball season is coming to a close as mid-October approaches, meaning the last tournament for two essential seniors is around the corner. The varsity volleyball season was slightly better than previous seasons; however, there is still much work to be done. Their record this season was 4-25, but the team showed promise on senior night. The team faced the Pebblebrook Falcons and won in 3 consecutive sets. The Wildcats originally started slowly, but they picked up the pace to close out the first set and worked very well together during the 2nd and 3rd sets. The team hopes to continue progressing in the next season.
The two seniors on the team, Michelle Nader and Grace Adams, were honored at the October 9th game against Pebblebrook. Michelle has played volleyball nearly all of her life and has been a 4-year varsity starter for the Wheeler Wildcats. She will be attending the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York to continue her volleyball career. Nader played very well in the game against Pebblebrook and expects to do the same on Saturday during the regional tournament. She believes the volleyball team can go to state and finish 3rd in the region to finish out the season.
Grace Adams has also played volleyball for the majority of her life and has been on the team all four years at Wheeler. Towards the end of her sophomore season, Adams tore her ACL, and the injury sidelined her for the rest of the year. She hoped to recover by the latter half of the junior season, but she had to get surgery on her knee the summer before the junior season and this further prohibited her from playing. Adams was able to play volleyball over the summer before the senior season; however, she slightly injured her knee once again and was sidelined for the season. Adams hopes to become healthy enough to play volleyball competitively once again. Adams supported the team during the game against Pebblebrook, and had this to say about the game: “I feel that it took us a while to bring our energy because we originally played down to their level, but we got it together and communicated very well towards the end.” She knows that the team will continue to progress in the future, and hopes that the team can become a top-tier seed in the region.
This volleyball season was a slight improvement over the last one, and there is much progress to be made. The team showed numerous sparks of greatness throughout the season but was unable to maintain that high level of play and communication in general. As their two seniors depart, the team will be slightly set back because of the significant roles these seniors played, however with diligence, motivation, and fantastic coaching, the Wildcats volleyball team can become the top seed in the region.