by Cienna Richardson
Orcas Island School junior
The Orcas Island varsity volleyball team hosted La Conner in a conference game on Oct. 1. The first set was extremely close, with the Braves pulling ahead by three points and winning the set. The following set maintained nearly parallel scores, with the Lady Vikings winning by five. The game went to four sets, and although they were neck and neck the majority of the time, the Braves won three of the four. The final box score was 22-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-27.
On Oct. 3, the team traveled to Coupeville for a game. It was a tough game, with Coupeville coming out on top. The final box score was 8-25, 12-25, 15-25.
“The Coupeville game was tough — we were missing people, and we are going to work hard to compete with them next time we play them,” said senior and co-captain Ava Ashcraft.
The Lady Vikings made up for their Coupeville loss with an impressive home game against Mount Baker High School on Oct. 5.
“As a team, we have had a lot of obstacles these last couple of games. With the combination of sick players and having to pull up less experienced players, we were truly struggling,” said senior and team co-captain Lili Malo. “Nevertheless, with the support of great coaches and younger players stepping up, we were able to turn the tides and successfully play together and win our last game against Mount Baker. We are very excited to continue to build on this and look forward to our next game!”
The stands were full, and Orcas fans brought a ton of energy and cheered their team on.
“The energy was really high. I feel like the better our moods are, the better we play on court,” said junior Chloe Anderson-Cleveland. “Volleyball is a big mental game and has to do a lot with confidence; if you believe you can get the ball, you do, and it’s important to trust yourself and your teammates. I think we won because of everyone hyping each other up and making sure that the energy stayed high, and we trusted our and each other’s skills.”
The game was close, but the Vikings’ combination of skill, strategy and teamwork allowed them to win. The Vikings swept Mount Baker in three. The Player of The Match was senior Alexandria Sanders. The final box score was 25-22, 25-20, 25-17.
