By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
Within the 1,743 square foot volleyball court at Heritage High School, the Lady Hawks continue to develop their bumping and setting skills. Normally, after bumping and setting comes spiking, but these girls the final ingredient of their on-court trifecta is enthusiasm. Unbridled enthusiasm to be exact. Plain, yet simple, and highly effective for making high school memories.
“We are just trying our best to be locked in during practice and in games. For me, I think being positive and focusing on the good things is an important, maybe the most important, part of life, not just sports,” explained Lady Hawks co-captain Lilly Jefferson. “You can see how its impacted our team, too, because regardless of the score we are doing our chants, cheering for one another, and actually enjoying the moments we get to celebrate.
“Being able to be loud and scream out of joy and excitement if my favorite part of sports,” continued the high school junior. “As the season went along, the more and more of my teammates started to join along and now almost the whole team cheers and lets out good emotion when something good happens or someone puts full effort on the court, like diving or really hustling to try and make a play. These are moments are worth celebrating, or in my case, screaming for.”
While doing their best to maximize enthusiasm during their team as volleyballers, the Lady Hawks have unlocked a truly refreshing perspective for those who witness them play. They are making the best kind of memories, built from a united mission to have fun regardless of what the scoreboard reads. This was evident at girls’ latest home game when they hosted Shoreline Christian on October 2.
After dropping a quick first set, 10-25, the girls played a back and forth second set that saw them trailing by only two points, 18-20, at one point. If it’s possible to will a team to victory simply through enthusiasm, then co-captains Lilly and Raylee Fryberg nearly did just that. They were the driving force that made sure they team came together after every point, win or lose, to clap it up, express positive platitudes, or let out a cheer-filled scream.
The super competitive second set ended up going Shoreline Christian’s way, but that didn’t stop the Lady Hawks from boiling over with that unbridled enthusiasm. Not even close. Before the start of the third set, senior Elizabel Herrera huddled up her team and mimicked the legendary “Whose got my back?!” chant made famous by the Seattle Seahawks vaunted Legion of Boom.
Those vibes carried over to the start of their third set. The Lady Hawks managed to jump out to a 9-8 lead and were still in the think of things while trailing 15-20. Ultimately, they dropped the third set and lost the match 0-3. Don’t tell them they lost though because they aren’t interested in the wins and losses; they are interested in making memories and building friendships.
“This is my first year playing volleyball,” admitted 17-year-old Elizabel post-game. “I’m so thankful for Lilly and Raylee for bringing me up and talking me into playing. I feel like I mess up so much and am still learning where I need to be and when, but they act like I don’t and that makes me want to keep on playing and getting better.
“This whole experience playing volleyball and being a Lady Hawk are good memories that I’ll be thankful later for. Really, I just want to smile and make others smile because high school is only four years and, me being a senior, I only have a few months left. So I want to smile as much as I can and make as many memories as I can before it’s over.”
The 2024 volleyball season is quickly coming to an end. Catch one last glimpse of bump, set, and enthusiasm when Heritage celebrates Senior Night on October 15. The Lady Hawks will be hosting Evangel Classical School in their final home game of the season.