The Manhattan High School girls Varsity volleyball team deemed their first week on the game courts successful.

On Sept. 7, the 11 girls competed against two teams: Highland Park and Washburn Rural. MHS hosted this event, making it a triangular for the Varsity girls’ first tournament of the season. The girls dominated Highland Park by winning 25-6 in the first set and 25-1 in the second. With this victory fresh in the girls’ minds, they stepped out on the court to play Washburn Rural in their second match and lost 10-25 in the first set and 15-25 in the second.

“Our team did well,” junior Wesley Zeka said. “We are still getting used to each other on the court since we are a young team, but have plenty of time for improvement to work towards our goal to beat Washburn.”

On Sept. 9, the Varsity girls played against Shawnee Heights, Silver Lake, and Seaman at Shawnee Heights. The girls lost against Seaman, 13-25, 12-35; lost to Silver Lake 25-23, 11-25, 22-25; and lost against Shawnee Heights 25-23, 16-25, 22-25.

“We competed with Shawnee Heights and Silver Lake but fell just short of both of the teams,” senior team captain Monroe Say said. “We know we have the ability and skill to beat them but we need to work on our communication and finishing the game strong.”

In their last meet of the week, the team competed in the Olathe South Tournament with the following five teams- Shawnee Mission South (25-21, 25-23), Schlage (25-10, 25-8), Olathe South (14-25, 22-25), St. James Academy (8-25, 11-25), and Blue Valley North (10-25, 13-25).

“We’re going to continue working on ‘playing with fire’ (which is our team motto this year) throughout the game and keeping our energy up so we can finish games,” Say said. “It may not have been the wins we wanted, but our team chemistry and bond is so good and I’m super excited for this season.”

This summer, the team as a whole (Varsity, J.V. and Freshman) have been working hard to execute serves, sets, passes and hits, along with working agility and endurance.

“Our team has done summer conditioning, weight training, and team bonding to prepare for this season,” Zeka said.

As far as the season goes, the girls have their goals in mind and are ready to push towards them by practicing and playing to their best ability everyday. 

“[The] team’s goal is to beat Washburn, win Sub-State, and win state,” Zeka said.