Students in the 9th and 10th grades were involved in the JV volleyball girl’s team this season. They all went through tryouts, practices, and games and only won their last game.

“I feel that the JV volleyball team, although we didn’t win that much throughout our season, did really well when it came to teamwork and making sure everyone is working together to play the best we could that night,” Ashlyn Yorimoto (9) said. “Even though we mostly always came back disappointed because we didn’t win, we knew that everyone on the team supported each other through that whole night.”

Some players weren’t so happy with the overall result. 

“We did terribly, lost every game but one against Kaiser,” Reece Fujitani (9) stated.

Winning and losing is a default response to how a team did overall. However, team working and leadership skills are a whole other perspective.

“Even though we won one game overall, I think we did pretty good,” Hina Sano (9) said.

Although Yorimoto didn’t play very much, she feels she worked hard. 

“Even though I wasn’t the best player in the team, I still gave my all this season and tried the best I could,” Yorimoto says. “I also cheered on my fellow teammates who were on the court to get them to do their best and forget about the score and if we were winning or losing.”

Overall, Fujitani wasn’t satisfied with her results and thought she could’ve played better.

“My defense was okay but I was able to hit and set a lot,” Fujitani explained.

Aside from the scores, friendship and collaboration played a huge role in the season. 

“I made many friends, and I think our team had the best connection with each other even though there was drama going on,” Sano stated. “Having a good relationship with the team made it really easy to talk and give advice to each other. Having a good team bond is what was good.”

Certain highs and lows were more impactful than others; however, they all seemed to have much to say.

“I felt that our practices and the win against Kaiser were some of the best because we felt our best when we did these things,” Yorimoto said. “We were super happy and we felt accomplished. And, some of our low points were when we were losing, we were getting frustrated and didn’t play as well as we could that night. We were taking it hard and couldn’t get back to how we usually play during practices.”

Fujitani thinks that their high point was beating Kaiser. 

“But I think we had a lot of lows because there were a lot of teams we could’ve beat but lost to due to coaching and players being absent,” Fujitani said disappointedly. 

The team played best when they bonded. Sano said that their bond was one of the reasons that pushed her to go to practice.

“I felt that the first win of the season was a memorable one because it was a happy night and our only win for our team,” Yorimoto said. “I felt that my fellow freshmen on the JV team were the players that I got the closest to. Such as Ana Yoon (9), Reece Fujitani, Morgan St.Aubin (9), Hina Sano (9), and Lana Sakai (9).”

Fujitani thinks that Yorimoto was outstanding every time she played and one of the reasons they won the game. 

“When we won against Kaiser, everyone was cheering for us and all so happy,” Fujitani proudly said.

Sano liked when the team was cheering and screaming excitedly.

“The very last set we were really excited and like ‘oh my god! We’re gonna win! We’re gonna win!’ and everyone was screaming and cheering.”

Despite the losses this season, all of the players took away a positive from this volleyball season. 

“I learned many things about teamwork, skills, and the importance of having a positive attitude for that game night,” Yorimoto positively said. “You need to think you are going to try your best and if you focus on your team we might be able to win that night.”

Fujitani was forced to take a leadership role this volleyball season.

“It made me learn how to be patient with people who are new and how to be aggressive while playing,” Fujitani reflected.

Sano learned the importance of relationships.

“I thought it was quite normal to have a good relationship with your team, but when I heard that other teams had bad relationships with each other,” Sano explained. There’s a lot of stories on how other teams didn’t really like each other. But for us, it’s like one whole team which made it more fun and just freeing.”

Overall, the JV team won one game, which just so happened to be their last game. However, they all seemed to take something away from their experience.

Well done, Falcons!