By: Siri David

This season the Highland Park Volleyball varsity team ended with a record of 16 wins and 10 losses. It was a really good season with two big sweeps over Central and being conference champs.

This season we had five seniors including our manager Analiese. There is Scarlett who is a 6 rotation outside, James who is a 6 rotation setter, and then Linnea and Nica who are both defense specialists. The seniors were all captains who helped lead the team to having a successful season, and we would not have been as successful without them. Analiese is the last senior and she is the team manager. She played a key role in the team, and did a lot for the coaches and players.

For our coaching staff we had three coaches. Our head coach was Emily Aune who is a Highland Park alumni and coached B-squad for three years. This was her first year as head coach and she did an amazing job at helping her players on the court but even more off the court. Emily was a really good at helping players grow mentally.

The first assistant coach is Ameilia who is also a Highland Alumni and she has been an assistant coach for around three years. She is a core part of the team and holds a lot of volleyball knowledge. We would not be as successful without her. The last assistant coach is Mark Steinbach. Mark has been coaching volleyball for 30 years and is highly educated and respected in the world of volleyball. He would plan all of our practices and is the core reason for our success this year. Overall, each coach brings something different to the team but they are all very much respected and needed for the teams success.

Every player on the team put their all into this season and showed up everyday giving the best they could. We ended the season in section semi-finals against De La Salle. It was a five set game with the last set having a two point differential. We wanted to win that game so badly and it would have been a big win for us, but either way we are all grateful to have had such a good season.

This season we had such a special team bond and all cared for each other so much, on and off the court. The season didn’t necessarily end how we wanted it to but we are all still so proud of how this season went, and thankful for the many opportunities we got.