Thursday, November 13, 2008

The End of High School Ball...

Well, my Higley volleyball season is over. We ended losing last night in the first round of state. But the point is that we made it back to state! We went back-to-back years going to the state tournament. And to be honest, I graduated 6 starting Seniors last year so I wasn't too sure if we were gonna make it back. We struggled sometimes throughout the season but truly ended up beating the teams we should've beaten, and lost a couple hard matches to some good teams. Here is one of our team pictures that my sister took:
This is an action shot of my Senior captain, Jordan Brackett. She's taking this dig like a champ! She played amazing last night. She went out with a bang!!!

And this heart-breaking picture below is my Junior right side Shelby Welker. Notre Dame's outside hitter came under the net after she hit the ball and as Shelby was blocking, she came down on her opponents foot and jacked up her ankle. She ended up leaving the game and going to urgent care where they "diagnosed" her with a bad sprain. I will forever see her terrified face burned in my memory forever! Poor girl!

Prior to Shelby going down at last night's game, another one of my main players went down with an ankle sprain during practice on Monday. And about a month before that, another starter broke her hand. So we went into this state match without 3 of my best starting players. It has been a crazy season full of bad luck and crazy ups and downs, but it was all worth it in the end because they made it to state despite all the road blocks that were put in our way.
I must say that I'm very sad to have this season come to an end because of the fact that I'm "retiring" from High School volleyball for a while. I'm just getting too burnt out from coaching year round with club and school ball so I decided that this is going to be my last year coaching high school so that I can have a few months off during the year. I'm still running Club Arrowhead out here in the East Valley and also coaching the 17-1's. So I'm still coaching, but I'm cutting back on part of it so that I have a break in between seasons. I'm going to miss coaching at Higley because everyone at the school has been great and I LOVE the girls, but it's time to say good-bye for now. I will always be a Higley Knight at heart!!! Go Knights!!!!

4 comments:

Stephanie said...

Congrats on making it to state! We are sad that Kylee won't be coming but she will love being at home with mom I am sure. By the way you fit right in with all those high schoolers! How do you pull that off?

Gates & Tausha said...

those are some sweet shots...i bet you'll miss some of those gals for a bit!!! :) you're the best coach eva!

hdawgy said...

Man that's a bummer you guys lost! At least you will still be coaching club teams! You are awesome! I love the pics! Except that sad one where she hurt her ankle! Poor girl!

Jaime said...

Everytime I see that pic of Shelby I literally wanna cry!!! I'm glad we don't have to coach against each other EVER AGAIN!!!! Oh and I'm excited for tonight! Go Molly Barlow!!!