Varsity Volleyball in Championship Match with Howard Hawks

The Varsity Volleyball Cougars met up with the Howard Hawks at Atlanta Area School earlier last week to play for the championship. Cougars were ready to take on Hawks in this meet up!

Set one started with Cougars with the serve. Alaina started strong with two in a row, leading with an ace. Loss of rally gave the ball to Howard, who also started off with ace serves, and our Cougars trying to rally to get the serve back. Alyssa on the net taking a pass from Bella over the net to win the point and the serve back for Cougars, 3-3. Alyssa to the service line with 2 great shots. Meanwhile Celeste took over the net, working to cover the net and intimidate the Hawks. Anna and Alaina both picked up some short dinks on the front line to keep the ball in play. Score bounces back and forth as both teams are vying to move ahead, still tied 7-7. A nice placed pass from Bella to the Howard back court to win back the serve. Unfortunately, the tide is not in Cougar favor as they got the serve back but struggled to keep it. Passing was tough for the Cougars causing them to fall behind, 10-16. Alyssa made a beautiful block on the net earning back Cougar serve but they couldn’t back it up. Howard took set 1, 13-25.

Slow start on set 2 for our Cougars. Minor errors held them back. Bella came up to serve and helped by getting in two shots to just the right place. Celeste set a nice one to Alyssa behind the 10-foot line, and she nailed a hard hit to the Hawks for a Cougar point, score is 6-5. Score remained tight between Cougars and Hawks, fighting for every point and looking for just the right place to put the ball. Alaina had some great passes in the back court, allowing the Cougars to set up for a hit. Cougars began to capitalize on the Hawk errors. Anna served two in a row, one ace, while Alyssa was defending the net with a beautiful hit to win the point. Cougars are fighting hard to make smart shorts to the Hawks. Cougars got stuck with serve receive from Hawks #4 Zoe Schroeder but finally got the serve back, 15-15. Alyssa put away her signature low, tight serve, putting Cougs back in the lead, 17-15. Celeste continued her pressure on the net and Finley rotated in to serve, score now 20-22.   The team worked to try to get it back but this hard-fought set went to the Hawks, 20-25.

Set three started with Cougar energy. Anna put away three serves, taking the lead, 4-2. Unfortunately, the Cougars could not keep the serve in their possession and also struggled with the serve receive, they managed to keep tight on the Hawks tail for a bit, 9-11. Celeste put in two pretty serves that challenged the Hawks but the serve goes back to Howard. Hawks Schroeder was up to serve, and our Cougars started to lose their momentum, having difficulty with serve receive and passing up the ball. Alyssa remained a strong presence on the net. Good defense in the back court by Celeste. There were a couple rallies that had the crowd on the edge of their seat with some great Cougar plays, but the Hawks kept on serving and finished off the set, winning the match, 11-25.

While it was not the ending the Cougars wanted, however the team truly challenged the Howard Hawks and pushed beyond what any other team in the AAC has offered them this season. The team has really grown in their ability and skill this season and the coaches are very proud of all they have accomplished this season.  Thank you to all for your support this season and as always, Go Cougars!