The Nemaha Central Middle School volleyball team traveled to Axtell on Saturday, September 11, 2021, ready to play some volleyball. They were getting pumped up, even if it was only 8:30 in the morning. When they arrived in Axtell, they walked in confident and ready to win some volleyball games.
First, NC started out the morning playing Frankfort. They played hard but couldn’t quite win the first set, 22-25. In the next set, they pushed really hard but fell short again, 22-25. The girls decided not to let that game knock them down, so they started preparing to play better and were determined to get some wins.
NC then played Axtell and the girls were fired up ready to get a victory. They started out with great serves and hustle, which resulted in a win, 25-14. That win pushed them to finally get their first match win of the season, 25-15. With their first win of the season, they had high spirits and were prepared to push for more wins.
Ready to win another game, they went up against Wetmore. After lots of hard work, NC came out with a win, 25-9. The next set went just as well for the Thunder girls as they defeated Wetmore with a score of 25-9. With the two wins, the Thunder team was ranked second in their pool and would play against the first seed in the other pool.
Going up against Doniphan West, the number one team in the other pool, the girls were ready to play. They struggled with the first match and were defeated with a score of 13-25. After the struggle, they tried to pick up their level of play but couldn’t make it out on top losing the second set with the same score, 13-25. NC decided to push for third place and continue to play hard.
The final game of the day was a rematch against Frankfort. NC was playing hard but dropped the first set, 18-25. After that loss, the girls hustled and in the next set they came out on top 26-24. In the third and deciding set, the Thunder team found themselves down early and just could not recover losing to the Wildcats, 8-15.
Regan Sloop stated, “It was really fun and I definitely think it gave us practice for our upcoming games.”
After playing hard, NC ended with fourth place overall in the tournament. The NC team won their first two games of the season at this tournament. They were proud that they placed well and learned from their mistakes. At the end of the day, they were exhausted after playing five games of volleyball.
Kadance Henry said, “At the beginning, we were pumped and ready to start. In the end, even though we didn’t win, we were happy to get fourth.”