Words: Giana Han

The Centennial Volleyball team experienced a devastating loss to Howard High School on September 10, 2013.

The Lady Eagles went 0-3 against the Lady Lions.  The first two games, they lost 25-18 and 25-17 respectively.  The Eagles pushed the third match into extra points, but fell short 26-24.

Junior captain, Meghan Kelley led the Eagles with six kills, and three aces.  During the third set, she served for eight straight match points, two of which were aces.

Her team helped her get the other six with several outstanding plays, including a kill from Monika Buczak and a triple block by Emily Allen, Katie Havlik, and Buczak.

Through serving, Kelley brought the score up from 24-17 to 24-all.  However, the team’s impressive run was not enough to help the Lady Eagles win the third and final set.

“We played to the best of our ability, they just played better.  There was a lack of communication, but we’re still looking forward to the rest of the season,” said senior co-captain, Kristen Ritchie.  “We are hoping this is just a bump in the road.” Ritchie also led the team with aces in the first two sets and then four kills in the third set.

Head coach Larry Schofield said, “We showed first-match jitters. We were going up against one of the number one teams in the county.”  He added, “They out played us, out hustled us, and out hit us.  There was not much we could do.”

This was the first time many of the girls have played together, and there are several young players on the team.  They hope that time and work will help them to improve.

“It was the first game,” said Jessie Link, a senior co-captain. “We’re going to come back stronger because now we know what we need to work on.”