Have you ever felt the rush after accomplishing something you worked so hard for? The Lady Kings experienced that this past weekend at the Cass County Volleyball Tournament. The Junior Varsity team consisted of; Coach Taylor Pullen, manager Bekah Bireky, seniors; Catarina Leoms and Heta Kosunen, sophomores, Kami Silcox, Brailyn Adams, Ruby Villnueva, and Ally Berry, freshman include; Lexi Gotshall, Lilly Hammond, Lauren Tocco, Laney Davis, Alana Fagan,and Adalyn Brown. The Junior Varsity team had their first game on Saturday at the Cass County Tournament. The Junior Varsity team played Caston in the very first game and came out on top 25-14 in both sets. Previously, Junior Varsity teams never won the first game. This made Coach Pullen proud that her team had already won the first game for the first time ever in her Coaching Career. In this game, the Lady Kings started off strong with incredible serves from Captain Kami Silcox. The Lady Kings had a few drop balls and missed serves and the Lady Kings needed to take that in consideration and improve on that for the next game. The Junior Varsity Volleyball team took on Pioneer and fought a hard battle winning the first set 25-23. The Lady Kings struggled with digging balls from hard serves, but still fought hard and won. The team fought hard and lost the second 23-25. The Lady Kings had some minor mistakes, but still fought very hard. The Lady Kings then competed in a third set and fell short 8-15. The Lady Kings missed serves helped Pioneer win the third set. The Kings took the loss hard, but they are currently using it as motivation for their upcoming games. Lauren Tocco, captain of the team and also libero, and freshman, Lilly Hammond both state, “That they are both very pleased with everyone’s performance, and that their team needs to work hard on serve receive, and digging balls.” Lilly said “I am overall excited for this season because I love my team and coaches.”

This team has a special place in my heart as well because I play along with Lilly and Lauren on this team. Volleyball has challenged me and my team to work hard, show up and take up any challenge. Volleyball keeps me on my toes and makes me want to compete more and more. Our coach challenges and pushes us to be at our best and give 100% every single day. We spent the summer in the gym practicing and participating in drills. We participated in weights to build strength to help us be at our best.This extra training helped us compete on Saturday and will help us continue to compete this entire season. The Junior Varsity Lady Kings are excited for their upcoming season, and are ready to compete.