St. Louis varsity volleyball had a busy week with a league match against Carrollton Wednesday, Sept. 15, and the Sunset Valley Invitational Saturday, Sept. 18. The Sharks beat Carrollton in four sets but placed second at the invitational in the silver division. 

The varsity girls started off the week with a matchup against Carrollton, which they beat in four sets with scores of 24-26, 25-19, 25-11, 25-17 to improve to 3-0 in the Tri Valley Central standings. 

       Some stats of the game include: Korah Honig had31 kills, 4 aces, and 3 digs. Kiersten Francisco had6 aces, 3 kills, and 2 digs. Alexys Rodriquez had41 assists, 3 kills, 8 digs, and 4 aces. Finally, Phoenix Shaw added2 aces, 7 kills, and 1 dig. 

Senior Haylee Davis stated, “I definitely think we need to work on talking more on the court and starting off strong instead of letting them get the first few points. We can beat so many teams if we put our minds to it and trust each other. I can’t wait to see how the rest of the season goes.”

The next obstacle the Sharks had to overcome was the Sunset Valley Invitational Saturday. In their pool, the team beat Coleman in two sets with scores of 25-12, and 25-13, and lost to Bath in two sets with scores of 17-25, and 21-25. Alma also beat the Sharks in three sets. The Sharks came back from an 18-24 deficit in the first set to come back to win the next set 29-27, taking the game to three sets. The last set was lost 5-15.

The varsity girls beat Standish-Sterling in two sets. These two teams are tied for number one in the conference, but Standish-Sterling was missing three of their starters on the weekend.

Leading the Sharks in this tournament was Honig with 34 kills, 32 digs, 5 aces, 1 block, and 4 assists. Shaw led aces with 23 on the day. She also had 4 kills, and 4 blocks. Alexys Rodriguez had 47 assists, 3 kills, 2 aces, and 8 digs, and Kiersten Francisco had 7 kills, 16 digs, 4 aces, and 4 assists. 

Senior Ellie Gager had some thoughts about the tournament, she stated, “We’ve just recently had a couple of injuries we’ve had to try to adjust to. It’s been hard at times trying to accept the fact that we have to overcome these obstacles. I want to try to remain positive every step of the way this season. I think it will be beneficial if we continue to build each other up and stay positive.” Recently, Izabel Hrabel tore both her ACL and meniscus in her leg, and Maude Zolue is currently waiting for her MRI results to come back.

As the season progresses, the harder and tougher games will get. Especially for the Sharks as they try to keep their undefeated title in the TVC conference.

Gager added, “It feels great to be 3-0 so far this season! I’ve personally never experienced being part of an undefeated team like this one. I’ve never felt closer to my team than I do this year and I think that plays a part in how we are playing. We are constantly lifting each other up and working together during practice. This year, I think we all share the same goals and mindset. I feel so proud to be a part of this team this year!”

The Sharks compete next at Bullock Creek, Wednesday, Sept. 22.