What a Loss can Mean!

The Tigers made the drive out to beautiful Franklin for a competitive match against the Grace Christian Academy Lions. The Tigers were intimidated at first. The Lions performed strong warm up drills, their spikes were hard and their servers were harder. Without that initial confidence the Tigers struggled to find a groove early. However, Clementine Meador '31 helped focus the team with amazing cheering and keeping the team's collect cool with consistent passing against tough Grace Christian Acadmey servers. Offensively she earned four aces and was even hitting specific serving zones! With that steady leadership on the court the Tigers found more confidence to be aggressive on the net! Maddie K '31, Cece Vogt '31, Kate Jahangir '31 and Clementine Meador '31 each attempted a hit. While they didn't convert into kills, their aggressiveness led to out of system balls for the Lions, which led to mistakes, and put the Lions on their heels. Maddy McKnight also was steady defensively with great passes, one of which led to Kelliana Olson '31 making an awesome set for Clementine Meador '31 with a finishing kill! The set was a tight back and forth, but the Lions finished out the tough set with some awesome deep serves. The Tigers ended the first set 22-25.

In the second set the Tigers came in with a stronger mindset with their focus on their controllable variables. Rather than worrying about the Lion's skill, strength, and height, the Tigers focused on how they were doing amazing plays, how they were doing the correct techniques, and how they were cheering for each other. That energy and and belief in each other had the Tigers ready to battle it out in the second set! Clementine Meador ‘31 continued to be a steady presence with precision serving, which earned her another ace, and great passing on defense. Kelliana Olson ‘31 and Lauren Koethe ‘31 then each earned an ace on their serves. And Anna Wolf ‘31 earned another pair of aces to keep Grace Christian Academy from creating a lead! Maddie Kim ‘31 and Kate Jahangir ‘31 each earned a kill, but the energy built from multiple rallies where the Tigers were able to cycle through a pass, set, and hit! The skill, the team work, and the aggressiveness on the net was so electric to see! The Tigers took GCA deep into the second set, but ultimately lost 27-29.

Despite the loss, this game was beyond exciting. It reaffirms the talent, the team work, and the mental resilience this team is capable of. While progress and success isn’t linear, this team has proven yet again they can always find different ways to improve. This team continues to be competitive each and every game and as they continue to get that game experience it’s just a matter of time before everything aligns. Come support these Tigers in their Friday September 6th game in the Cheek Gym at 5:00pm against Battle Ground Academy! Go Tigers!