Seniors Alice Liu, Nikita Sankar and Beverly Yu commended for service during Senior Night.
It’s loud. It’s energetic. It’s mighty. It’s the girls volleyball Senior Night as the girls win their game 3-0 against Milpitas High School on Nov. 5.
Lady Mats prepared to send off three of its dedicated seniors with this honorary game and a night filled with senior traditions. Two of the seniors, co-captain Alice Liu and co-captain Beverly Yu, were four-year freshman starters, while senior Nikita Sankar started in her junior year. Throughout the day, according to senior Nikita Sankar, the girls were congratulated and hailed by their team members.
In the evening, the stands were filled and bustling with encouragement and enthusiasm as an audience gathered to watch the Lady Mats play an unrelenting match.
During the first set, Lady Mats dominated with a 18 point lead at 20-2 due to their strong offensive serves and hits. About of overconfidence led the girls to forfeit a 15 point streak to MHS. However, strong teamwork and confidence allowed MVHS to regain their lead and bring the final set score to 25-19.
The second set commenced at 1-0 with several miscommunications giving Milpitas points, but the girls recovered quickly to tie 6-6. From there Yu held a commendable six point streak in serving that pushed the score to a strong lead at 12-6. Lady Mats stretched this lead to 16-7 aided by Sankar’s finishing spikes and powerful rallies. With the score at 24-12, Yu missed the serve, but Milpitas’ serve did not clear the net, giving Lady Mats a point. Ultimately, MVHS won their and win their second set 25-13.
At 2-0, the girls were prepared for a quick victory as Yu served the first point of the set with an ace. The girls established a 7-2 lead with Liu’s spikes and sophomores Kirthi Gomatam’s and Nicole Anderson-Au’s serves. Milpitas managed to recover the score to 7-6, but the girls fought back to lead 17-11. Senior co-captains Yu and Alice Liu rounded off the game with strong spikes and Anderson-Au held a five-point serving streak that culminated in a 25-15 win and the girls’ first 3-0 victory.
“We accomplished all we wanted to,” head coach Colin Anderson said, “We had a lot of control, we played well.”
As the senior night game ended, the three seniors celebrated their victory and gave their last thoughts on this season. As a varsity starter for four years, Yu wished that she was involved with her team during her first year as a freshman.
“I feel like I should’ve used that opportunity that we had good players all around me to develop as a better player,” Yu said, “I feel like I didn’t use enough of that motivation to better myself.”
Despite regrets of lost opportunities, the seniors look forward to continuing their love for volleyball by playing in college and revel in their experience on the team.
“The team has become a second family and I’ll definitely miss this,” Sankar said.
