Girls volleyball takes on the Keys

BY OLIVIA LEWIS

For the first tournament of the year, the Lady Cowboys varsity volleyball team made their way to Key West, Florida. The girls left on Friday, September 7 before school started. They took several vans to travel the three-hour drive to Key West.

The Lady Cowboys played in one game on Friday after their arrival and three games on Saturday. They won two out of the four games, leaving them third in the bracket. In the first game, the Cowboys lost in the first two sets.

“I think overall we had fun the whole weekend,” captain Devyn Moore said. “It was a good experience for varsity and [junior varsity] to play some new competition.”

The girls enjoyed their time while they were there, accomplishing two team activities. On Friday, the girls attended Mallory Square and went to a pizza restaurant. The following day, the Lady Cowboys went on a ghost tour.

The team’s instructor got them ghost searching devices and brought them to different locations of the tour. He told them the events that happened there and what ghosts the girls were supposed to be hunting there.

“We had a great time in Key West,” captain Lauren Rock said. “It was a good opportunity for everyone to bond. We got to play some good teams and I believe we grew as a team this weekend.”

Several of the key players this weekend included Rock, Moore, Saige Monteiro, Kaitlyn Anthony and Katie Kaminski. Rock led the team with digs and Moore added many points to the scoreboard. Although there was a lack of space in the gym, Monteiro managed to serve the ball well and helped gain points for the team. Both Monterio and Anthony blocked numerous hits over, contributing to the score as well. Kaminski had a lot of assists by setting the ball for her teammates.

“This weekend we played very well especially for not knowing our competition,” captain Monteiro said. “We kept up with the higher level teams and rematched with Pines. Our team played with ups and downs the whole tournament but I think we played better than our tournament last year.”

The Lady Cowboys used every experience from this trip to help them in their future games. Although the team had to put work in for the games, they also bonded which helped build their chemistry. Their next game will be on Monday, September 11 against South Broward High School.

Photo by Cassie Hartmann