Team spirit

Justin Seward
Times Reporter

 

The Strathmore High School junior girls Spartan volleyball team saw an improved compete level as the season went along and right through into zones.
“Our team was seeded as 8th in the tournament and that is where we placed at completion,” said head coach Carrie Westgard.
“The team learned a lot from the highly competitive games they played (in zones), rallies were longer so they improved their intensity and focus.”
Westgard was really impressed with how her team was capable of maintaining team spirit while showing glimpses of their potential on the court.
“The biggest strength of the team this year is that they had massive team spirit, they work hard for each other. They will continue to improve as they have so much potential,” said Westgard.
The improved athleticism by the players was something that got high praise from their head coach.
“We have many athletes on the team, they learned rapidly throughout the season and should be proud of the substantial improvements they made in their game. They represented SHS with integrity and grace, they are wonderful ambassadors for our school,” said Westgard.
Meanwhile, the junior boys – who played as a senior team in exhibition tournaments – ended the year on a high note as they won all but one set in their gold medal winning performance at zones.
“Our team played extremely well, we won the Junior Varsity Zone banner, beating the HTA Knights in the final. We played really good defense and served very tough allowing us to score points in transition,” said head coach Cole Hintz.
The strategy that the boys used was working for them effectively throughout the tournament.
“We did a good job of passing and establishing an effective middle attack, which gave our outside hitters an easier block to hit against,” said Hintz.
The team had a very successful season and kept getting better as they played in every tournament.
“We played up all year trying to find difficult competitions so we could learn the level of aggressiveness and efficiency we would need to be a high quality team. We learned a lot and was able to keep improving the entire season,” said Hintz.
He also added that most of the team will be returning next year and will be stronger and more athletic which will hopefully lead to more success.