The St. Louis Sharks varsity volleyball team had a big night at the Shark tank against Hemlock, Wednesday, Sept. 8. The sharks won in a hard-fought five sets.

  The Varsity girls lost the first two sets 20-25 and 16-25 respectively, but in the last three sets turned it around. The scores were as follows: Set three was 25-23, set four was 25-15, and set five was 15-12. 

Korah Honig led the offense with 25 kills, 4 aces, 11 digs, and one block. Alexys Rodriguez had a great night with 40 assists, 4 aces, and 6 digs. Also on the night, Kiersten Francisco contributed 5 aces, 9 kills, and 7 digs. Maude Zolue also contributed 9 kills, five digs, and two blocks.  

Honig stated, “It felt so good to play in the Shark tank again. It was a really close game, especially starting off behind two sets, but we were able to come back and win. I’m so proud of our team and our ability to never give up. We always keep fighting. I also loved the student section, and I’m so happy that everyone came. It felt so good to finally have people at our games. It definitely helped everyone’s spirits. I know everyone lost their voices that night.” 

As the team started to finally find their groove, the crowd joined in to make the team even more hype. Many of the players on the team said that the student section really helped keep hope in the last couple sets, and in the end, the girls came out on top.

  Senior Ellie Gager stated, “When we lost the first two sets in the beginning of the game, we started to feel defeated in a way and thought we had a slim chance of winning. Thankfully, we started playing to our fullest potential and that really fired us up to keep pushing our limit.”

Gager added, “I really think the student section had a huge impact on how we played. We started to focus and get back into our groove once the students started cheering a lot. I loved the atmosphere that the student section and the rest of the crowd brought to our first game. They gave us hope and never stopped cheering us on until the end. We strived to win not only for ourselves but for the students and the rest of the crowd. Even though we had a rough start, I’m really proud of how we came together as a team and won the game!”

The Lady Sharks improved to 6-0 overall and will compete again Monday, Sept. 13, at Clare.