Hawthorn’s Senior Volleyball team is living up to our legend on the court and continuing to perform exceptionally well this year. With a perfect record of 4 games and 4 wins, earning 8 points, Hawthorn is currently at the top of the league in Division 3.
Our most recent competition was an away game at Trinity College School in Port Hope. Hawthorn won three of four sets, with the following scores:
Set 1: Hawthorn (25-23)
Set 2: Hawthorn (25-17)
Set 3: Trinity (24-26)
Set 4: Hawthorn (25-16)
Hawthorn knew that Trinity would be determined to win and put up a good fight since we have beaten them once before. They tried to play hard, as if we had never played them before. As our players are becoming more comfortable with the 5-1 rotations, preparation for this game was more about improving our game play and focusing on what is happening on our side of the court to minimize errors. Playing without the home court advantage meant the added challenge of adapting to the higher TCS ceiling height which gave us more time to get under the ball, set our feet, pass to the setter, and have longer rallies. We had to be ready to play right until the whistle. Our coaches had trained us well to target deep corners, stay low, be quick on our feet to get short and deep serves, and quickly pivot after serving to our court position.
During the game, we had to be ready for whatever may come over the net and play each ball as if it were game point. We treated each set as if it were the last set of the game. Once a set was over, whether it was a win or loss, we played the next one just as hard, never dwelling on the past sets, and focusing on the present set instead. Throughout the game, we always supported each other despite mistakes/errors.
One thing that really helped us pull through were our serves. They didn’t have to be the strongest, but they had to be consistently over the net, and inside the court. Special mention goes out to Isabella Arruda who had to fill in at the last minute and play a position she had not practiced this season!
A special thank you goes out to our coaches Miss Lim and Miss Ducepec, our Athletic Coordinator Mrs. Pazooki, and our Director of Character Education Miss Yu, who travelled with us. We appreciate your incredible support, and we can’t wait for our next game! It’s a home game, January 29, against Kingway College School! Go Hawthorn!!