Upper School News

Girls’ Volleyball Team Retakes the Court and Enjoys Successful Season
Rachel Freeman, communications & website manager

 

The last time the Nueva girls’ volleyball stepped on the court, they were competing in the 2019 California Interscholastic Federation Division V NorCal finals. While the team that took the court to start this 2021 season looked different from that 2019 team—with seniors Cate L., Fiona T., Arielle C., and junior Isabella Y. serving as the bridge between them—they continued right where they left off. The season culminated in a CCS quarterfinals playoff match against Castilleja on Nov. 2, after they earned an eighth-seed berth and defeated ninth-seeded Santa Catalina in their opening playoff match (25-20, 26-28, 25-16, 26-24).

Energy was high as the Mavericks took the court in Palo Alto, and more than 40 Nueva students, staff, and parents filled the bleachers to cheer them on. In the first set, the Mavericks fell behind 7-1 before tying it up and even taking the lead. 

While the team ultimately fell in the first set and lost the next two to lose the match (22-25, 17-25, 20-25), the scores were not indicative of how tight the games felt. Nueva students in attendance were on their feet for every point, hooting and hollering when Nueva earned the point. They shouted shared words of support and encouragement, serving as the team’s seventh player of sorts (in basketball, fans are often called the sixth man as attempting to influence the game by cheering and chanting for their team). 

Nueva Director of Athletics Chris Wade was not the only person in attendance who was impressed by what they saw at the match.

“The Castilleja athletics director mentioned to me that not only did she see huge on-court improvement from the first time we faced them this season,” Chris said, “but she also talked about the great energy and atmosphere our community brought. It was so great to have that energy to cap the season.” 

Congratulations to the Nueva varsity girls’ volleyball team on a season about which they should feel very proud.


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