The South Windsor High School gymnasium stands were packed on Friday, November 6th for the girls’ volleyball first round of states between South Windsor and Manchester High School. The girls’ confidence was palpable as they took the court.

“Our team played very strongly in the first 2 sets of the match,” said senior Sidney Montana.

With their kills, Kaillie Girard (right side) and Marisa Resnick (middle) gained most of their team’s points. Kaityln Bullock (setter) also delivered her finest performance yet, setting each ball to the hitter with precision.

“Volleyball is a team sport and so being able to help my players out with my skills allowed our team to do very well,” said Montana.

Sidney Montana performed flawlessly in her position as libero, contributing with aces and solid defense, earning her team crucial points.
“One of our teams’ greatest moments of play was when we had a really long rally, where the final result was the other team slamming the ball out of bounds giving us the point,” said Montana.

The third set did not start off as strong. “And then, in the last set we began to struggle a bit. We committed common errors that most teams have with communication. We then began to really dig deep and pull out a win on the night. I felt that I played well and consistently,” Montana recalled.

The resounding cheers from both the stands and the bench kept the team motivated. Once their practices were finished, members of the football and field hockey team came by to cheer on the girls.

“I think the highlight of the game was when we were down a couple points in the third set and fought to finish the game in straight sets. Something that kept the team going strong throughout the game was the thought that we could get the chance to move on farther into the championship if we won the first round,” said sophomore Kailie Girard.

The starting players, including Kailie Girard, Marisa Resnick, Sidney Montana, Sharon Iweka, Renee Gough, Kaitlyn Bullock, and London Bascomb, delivered exceptional performances.

“As much as all the girls played well, the MVP of the game had to have been London Bascomb. She has grown so much throughout the season, and this game really showed all of her hard work paying off,” said sophomore Mariam Hamadi.

By the end of the evening, the Bobcats had defeated Manchester 3-0, clinching the final set with a score of 28–26.

With this exhilarating game finished, the girls are looking ahead to the next round. “The way my team is preparing for the next round of states is trying to work on each of our individual skills at practice,” said Hamadi. “I think some challenges that we’ll have to face going on to the next round will probably be our mindset going into the game knowing that the next team has the same goal that we have of trying to win the game as well”.

The girls will face Amity, which is in Woodbridge, on Thursday, November 9th.

Montana also recognized areas for improvement, stating, “One thing that our team needs to work on for the next round is using our voices louder and having early communication and being on the same page”.