Historic Catholic schools go head-to-head in volleyball match
September 19, 2022
For the first time in school history, Mount St. Mary, who is the No. 1 seed, competed against the No. 2 seed Bishop McGuinness during the regular season and after a tough fight emerged victorious in three sets.
In previous years the two schools have been in different divisions with McGuinness being in 6A and Mount St. Mary being in 5A, so the only available time to compete has been during tournaments. Regardless, this year with both teams being in 5A the teams were able to go head to head in The Holy War.
“It’s a big deal, not because they are another Christian school, but because they were the No. 1 seed,” Head Coach Kelli Miller said. “I think that that’s maybe more reason why it was a high pressure game for us.”
Keeping high spirits, a collective calm midnset, and dealing with adveristy are all essential aspects to the sport of volleyball in order to produce the outcome one’s team wants.
“Our team is very good with dealing with adversity, we don’t have very many people with negative attitudes, we’re all very positive together on and off the court,” Senior right side hitter Rachel Tate said.
Emotions ran wild in the packed gym which reached almost max capacity with both team’s student and parent sections roaring; both teams knew how high the stakes were.
“Most of us played with girls from McGuinness whether in CGSAA or in club so there were a lot of emotions going into the game,” Senior Mount St. Mary player Jane Ertl said. “Overall I feel like we handled the pressure really well and rose to the occasion.”
Despite the outcome, Miller noted she was proud of her team.
“There are core values that we’ve set for this season,” Miller said. “Those include keeping a certain degree of effort, keeping teamness as a goal, and then making sure that our attitudes are always right, call it our ETA.”
Miller also noted how proud she is of her seniors and how they lift up the team as a whole.
“Our seniors are just super,” She said. “I don’t even know how to describe them. I could do a whole other article on our seniors, and just how they complement each other. All of our seniors carry the weight, you know, for the first time in a long time, and they all have something that they contribute that another senior may not have.”