Last Thursday Night, the Forest Hills Central Varsity Volleyball team opened up their season against their new conference rival, Forest Hills Eastern. While the Rangers had been busy preparing for this game in the pre-season, unfortunately, they lost in 4 sets 3-1.
The Rangers came into the game with a certain energy emanating from them and a positive attitude. It certainly showed as they were able to take the Hawks in the first set with a score of 25-20.
The second set started strong for the Rangers, but unfortunately, they could not find the same energy they seemed to have had in the first set. Forest Hills Eastern was able to overwhelm the Lady Rangers, 25-15, in the second set.
With the pressure bearing down on their backs, the Lady Rangers were motivated to fight back and attempt to secure another win in the third set. Once again, they were unsuccessful and lost the third set to FHE, 13-25.
Sophomore Olivia Waller, who had a big game on Thursday, knows how important it is to not dwell on the negatives and keep a positive attitude for the next set.
“Volleyball is a game of error, mistakes, and sometimes losing,” said Waller. ‘Your attitude throughout all of this greatly affects what kind of game you play, but it also tells people what kind of athlete you are. If you have resilience when you lose a set, it makes it much easier to rebound back in the next set. Staying positive can help your mental state and greatly impact how you play.”
The beginning of the 4th set proved to be crucial for FHC. Since volleyball is played in a best-of-5 format, the Rangers needed to win in order to force a set 5. There were many back-and-forth points and many great points scored by the Rangers. Unfortunately, FHC lost yet again, 17-25.
The Rangers’ efforts should not be diminished, as it is only the first game of the season, and there are always obvious growing pains with the income of new players.
Senior Meredith Bethea recognized this but has a positive outlook on the rest of the team’s season.
“I think overall we have a lot to improve on, but it was a good start to the season,” said Bethea. “Some positives of the game, considering the circumstances, were that we executed in a positive manner and we persevered through the ups and downs.”
The Rangers’ next games are at the Hudsonville Eagle Invite on Saturday, September 28th.
