Lady Pirates take home first in home tournament

  • Lady Pirates take home first in home tournament
    Lady Pirates take home first in home tournament

By Jacob Stock

Yorktown News-View

 

Continued growth has been a valuable component for a young Lady Pirates volleyball team so far this season. This past Saturday, Aug. 27, Nordheim played host to their own Nordheim Tournament which saw a total of six different schools come to compete in a full day of volleyball. 

The day started early with pool play beginning at 8 a.m. To determine seeding, two games were played with the first to 15 winning the set. 

The Lady Pirates took the court first squaring off with Victoria Cobra Athletics (VCA). Nordheim defeated VCA in two sets (15-7, 15-13), and followed up the win with another win over Falls City in two sets (15-12, 15-9). After going 2-0 through pool play, it allowed the Lady Pirates to get some much need rest as they prepared for a run at the championship game. 

“I think there in that first set we were kind of asleep. We had some mental mistakes and mental errors,” said head coach Randy Castillo on the early start. “After that, we snapped out of it and woke up and got in a rhythm.”

Although his team was 4-0 through their first four sets of the tournament, coach Castillo saw some areas that still needed to be worked on. 

“We need to be a little louder on the court communication-wise, but I thought we played well. We did a good job at serving and receiving. Offense-wise, we need to pass the ball just a little better so we can get some more sets up and get some more attacks.”

In game three Nordheim faced VCA for the second time. After losing their first set of the day 25-22, the Lady Pirates battled back to take set two 25-10. Out of the gates in set three, the Lady Pirates had the momentum taking an early 3-0 lead. VCA quickly came back and put the Lady Pirates in a tough hole to climb out of. 

“When we come down short in a match we just have to keep our heads up and push each other to play harder and not give up,” said junior leader Kristiana Lopez on the effort to battle back and take the set. “I think the main goal was to work as a team and not being down on each other,” said sophomore Abby Klein. “That’s what really helped us win that game.”

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