This article is reposted from the Heritage Gazette:
These past couple of weeks may seem to have been a bit volleyball-less, but not so my friends; the last two weeks have been comprised of away games that our Heroes brought the heat to!
To kick us off was the rematch game against LFPA Gilbert. Our Heroes communicated efficiently and showed those girls who’s boss. For example, the combination of Alyse Whitehead’s sets and Kylie Bartel’s fireball smackdowns left Heritage’s opponents lucky if they even got a hand on the ball. There’s a theory that if football players want to be light on their feet that they should take ballet. So it was for our Heroes as they were covering EVERY square inch on the court. One of the memorable saves for this game was a ball that came over the net that someone shanked (mis-passed). Afterwards, the ball was passed but ended up over in an uncovered court. As though time slowed down and was part of a movie, Hope McCain dashed to the other court, hit the ball in a Hail Mary attempt to pass the ball up high and over the net…Let’s just say it got over and Heritge took this win in three games.
The next game was hands down one of Heritage’s best games, even though Heritage lost. Cicero was the opponent and the only thing (besides being in Scottsdale) standing in the players’ way of the HOMECOMING FOOTBALL GAME. Several times throughout this match rallies sent the ball to both sides of the net over and over again, but sadly the spiking ability of Cicero helped them come out on top. This intense game pushed the team to put their best foot forward. But in the end, our Heroes didn’t want it enough.
Following the loss to Cicero, Heritage’s next game was against Sequoia! This game was all-around fun as Heritage had some fantastic serves (can anyone say “ace”!), some glorified passes from the liberos (defense specialists) Natalie Burnett and Carlie Mortensen, and some astounding backrow hits from Alexis Freeman! Rhonda Gargog and Alyse Whitehead made quite a setting team which the hitters purposefully utilized. Taking this game in 3, the girls had smiles on their faces from the energy in the game!
To end the seeming unending string of away games came the game against Summit, a new team in the league! This game was an adventure as the Heroes traveled into the belly of Phoenix and ended up getting lost! In a humble way, the Heroes played their best and ended up wiping the other team clean! For instance, the first game’s score was 25-2!! Some of the fun rallies in this game were the balls that our Heroes didn’t see coming, such as overpass netballs that our middle players Kylie Bartel and Hope McCain sent zooming down the court. Unfortunately, the double setter Sabrina Moseley was injured during this game and will be out for the next couple matches, so if you see her give her a big high five because she is honestly a trooper!
The next couple of weeks are home games, and the Heritage Hero varsity volleyball girls are ready to claim their courts and walk the path to State Championships. Let’s go Heroes!!!
