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By Kendall Gaignat

Giving her teammates high fives, junior Molly Cosmillo and the other starting players get pumped up before the start of the game.

At the substate tournament at Pittsburg High School on Saturday, Oct. 21, the volleyball team started off with a win against the Pittsburg Purple Dragons, only to fall to the St. James Thunder in the semifinals.

The Jags won both sets against the Purple Dragons, the first match 25-14 and the second 25-17.

Going into the semifinals against St. James, senior Ava Taton knew the team needed to start off strong.

“We were expecting it to be a hard game,” Taton said. “We knew we had to put forth our best effort in order to win.”

Despite the loss of both matches, Taton feels the team gave it their best and is happy with their performance.

“I’m not disappointed; I thought the team fought for it and we really wanted to win,” Taton said. “They just had a really fast offense and would hit through our blocks sometimes if our setup wasn’t right, so I feel like that was hard on our defense.”

Senior Abby Archibong was also satisfied with the outcome, despite it not being the results they were hoping for.

“I’m happy with the way the team performed,” Archibong said. “I feel like we really cranked it up because we knew that it could potentially be the last time playing and we played better as a team with that pressure.”

Overall, Taton is also proud with not only the team’s performance at substate, but also throughout the season.

“I feel like we had a rough start coming out of the gate,” Taton said. “But as the season went on, we really improved and came together as team.”