On Monday, October 24, the RM girls volleyball team displayed their dominance in a quick three set win over the Seneca Valley Eagles.

“I expected today to be a more laid back game,” reflected Coach Barbara-Strunk after the game. “I kind of expected what came out of it.”

With fierce intensity, the girls quickly overpowered their opponents in the first set with consistently well placed hits against the erratic playing of the Eagles. “Our attempts at taking advantage of their mistakes were really good this game,” noted junior Brooke Richman, the team’s libero. “However, we also had many really good serves that won us a lot of our points.” Rarely giving up possession of the ball, the girls delivered strong serves point after point to take the set 25-8.

The girls continued to punish the floundering Seneca team in the second set, holding the Eagles to only four points. However, the Eagles stepped up their play in the third set, going toe to toe with the girls in many long rallies with several spectacular saves.

In the end though, displaying a consistency that had so alluded them throughout the regular season, the girls concentrated on playing smart and pushed through for the victory, 25-12. “We did a lot of good things like being aggressive while minimizing our mistakes,” summarized junior Lisa Yang. “We really tried to stay focused on our play despite it being more of a boring game.”

With only one game left in the regular season, the girls are already looking to consolidate and improve their play before playoffs. “We tried some new things today along with maintaining our consistency which could help us against better teams in playoffs,” explained Yang.

The team is heading into playoffs with very high hopes. “We’re looking to get a win next week against Paint Branch and take that momentum over into playoffs,” continued Richman. “We lost against some teams we shouldn’t have in the regular season and we’re hoping to do better in playoffs.”

Despite the match being a mostly one-sided affair, the girls remained focused and reflected the importance of constant improvement through their play. With the goal of showing up at playoffs in mind, their performance was indicative of their strong desire to win.