Girls volleyball team makes fabulous run, but falls short for state quarterfinals

Jack Higgins, Photography and Online Editor|November 27, 2022

Photo by Jack Higgins

Girls volleyball team celebrates after scoring a point. The team is playing in the state tournament at the Xcel Energy Center on November 10th.

The girl’s volleyball team made one of their best runs in school history this year, winning the 4AAAA section championship and going to the state tournament for just the fourth time in school history. The senior-heavy team has gone to state in 2009, 2017, and 2018, so none of this year’s players have ever made it this far. It is an exciting experience to make it to the state tournament, being played at the Xcel Energy Center every year.

The team will still have a lot of depth next year, even after losing a big group of senior players. The JV, sophomore, and freshman teams all have a lot of depth and talent, with some juniors, sophomores, and freshmen even playing on varsity.

“I haven’t really focused on next year, but I think we will obviously lose a big chunk of talent but I think we have a lot of younger girls that are going to be great for the future and be successful and have a lot of skill and talent,” junior Mackenzie Peters said.

Math teacher Sara Baumgard said in female sports, team chemistry makes up a lot of the team’s success. This has proven to be crucial this year, making the run to state possible. The team has bonded over many events, banquets, dinners, and tournaments. This helps to make the team stronger in terms of knowing each other and working well together.

Another aspect of the team working so well together is their record this season, sitting at 23-6. Baumgard said “we are going into state 23-6,” which is a really good season.

“We’ve had some really big wins and some losses, but besides a few, most of the losses were extremely competitive,” said Baumgard.

The season was very exciting for most players, as senior captain Tori Liljegren said, “It was really exciting. It was a good four years and went by very quickly.”

Part of why the season was so fun was because of all the wins they had, and the tournaments they played in and won.

Overall, the girls had a very productive season, and although they will lose a lot of talent in the seniors, they are hoping to build on this year’s success for next year and be better than ever to make another run for state.