The Bomber volleyball team’s last game of the season was a hard-fought, five-set match against the Caledonia Warriors. In the fifth set, the score was eight to ten, Bombers down, and Caledonia took a timeout. They went back out but the Bombers couldn’t seem to catch up. The Warriors won the game fifteen to eight, sending the Bombers home with second-place medals.
Senior Madison Burr was out for most of the scheduled season due to an injury. Although coming back after her injury was her favorite part, she learned that it’s extremely difficult. She explained, “Mentally it was harder for me than physically because when I wasn’t playing my best. I just needed to be confident in myself and trust that I could play the game I love.” Although getting to come back and play after her injury was her favorite part of the season, the most memorable experience was beating Chatfield as they were ranked second in the state.
Karsyn Winchell’s favorite part of volleyball this year was the team. She loved everyone and enjoyed spending time bonding. When asked what she thinks the team needs to improve she replied, “I think our team needs to work on communication mostly. We got better as the year went on but that is a key factor to success.” Karsyn is a junior and she believes her best game this year was against Zumbrota-Mazeppa.
“As a team, I think we were best at keeping ourselves in every game and not letting down,” stated Anna Ritz. Most of the games the team lost were close matches. Whether they won or lost, they always fought and played hard. Anna is a junior and enjoys playing and hanging out with her team. She claims the most important skill is blocking. Blocking was important for the varsity team at the end of the season because they needed to get a touch on the ball to slow it down and help the defense.
Melissa Huseth, the Bomber Volleyball head coach, loves to watch her team play in practice and matches. She loves seeing them work hard and find success in volleyball because of their efforts. Knowing the girls had to make many changes throughout the season she thinks they still did awesome. After being asked what she thinks the biggest improvement was, she responded, “I would say we made improvements in all areas, but defense was probably our biggest improvement.” With changes because of the loss of strong physical and emotional leaders and injuries, the girls still finished their season strong. The Bombers play in a competitive conference and load their non-conference schedule with tough opponents, thus making it hard to keep up attitudes after multiple losses. But, Coach Huseth knows she can trust that these girls will show up to practice each day willing to work on little things.
The Bombers ended their season strong, fighting till the last point. These girls can’t wait to get back out on the floor and play volleyball again. In the meantime grab some popcorn and watch the other amazing sports Cannon has to offer!
