Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Freshman Lady Generals volleyball team after playing against Bourbon county.

In 2009, Lafayette’s Lady Generals volleyball team made it to the state championships. Despite coming close since then, Lafayette has not made it back to that stage. With a strong start to the season from all teams, is this the year Lafayette finally breaks the ice and makes it back to the championships?

At the varsity level, players are advancing to more serious and higher level playing. Some various major wins have included Scott County and Henry Clay. With a rough start, Lafayette lost the first set to Scott County 15-25. As more students poured into Scott County’s student section, Lafayette junior varsity and freshman girls realized how important the atmosphere was for the players.

With this new motivation from Lafayette’s student section, Lafayette took the second set 25-22 against Scott County. With Scott County’s student section trying to fight back, Lafayette did not back down. Taking the third set 25-17 was exactly what Lafayette needed to keep them pushing into the fourth. For any player, five sets are exhausting, so Lafayette tried its best to close this game out, but it never ended. Losing the fourth set 13-25, Lafayette knew they needed to come out stronger than ever in the last set.

¨I think the turning point of the game was in the fourth set when we lost. It was a big eye-opener, ¨ said Varsity middle Caitlyn Fuamutu. Lafayette had to come in with a new mindset when approaching the fifth set. As the atmosphere increased, so did Lafayette’s playing level. There is absolutely no doubt that atmosphere is such a big contributor to these types of games. In a quiet gym, it becomes hard to be loud with your teammates and play at a more fluent pace. Sometimes, it feels uncomfortable and forced. As points arose, Lafayette pushed harder and harder towards this win. Lafayette’s passion resulted in the biggest win yet of the season.

Storming the court was the perfect way to close out this perfect win. According to Caylin, ¨The atmosphere increased our chemistry. With all the cheering from the underclassmen. It helped us mentally on and off the court¨.

As we start talking about JV, one thing that sticks out to me is their most recent tournament in Sevierville, Tennessee. As Fumatu said about the varsity chemistry, this tournament affected JV’s chemistry.

“At the tournament, we got closer, which helped improve our chemistry,” commented Payton Watts. While Varsity and Freshman still competed hard, JV came out on top in this tournament. After four straight years of JV winning this tournament, there was a lot of responsibility on these players’ shoulders. On the tournament’s first day, JV competed hard and went 2-0.

The players were told to carry this momentum into the next day of playing, and that’s exactly what they did. After winning all games the next day, the championship was the final step to continuing their 4-year winning streak. Little did they know that the team JV was about to face in the championship had forfeited due to the number of games they were allowed to play. They found out that different states have different rules for student-athletes, like the number of games they can play during the day. Players soon realized this meant they had won the tournament again.

While most were upset that they did not get to play their championship game, they were also excited to be walking out with another win.

JV´s defensive specialist Payton Watts said, “I feel bad for the players who couldn’t play in their championship game. We wanted to play in that game but were glad to have won regardless”. The players played with intense determination and coordination to pull out the win.

Finally, moving on to Lafayette’s freshman team. This team has come so far and still has so far to come. Jolena Thomas, the defensive specialist for the freshman team, says, “The improvement our team has shown from the beginning and end of the season is astounding; I am proud of our team.”

For anyone, freshman year is hard and stressful, and adjusting and adapting to new people and teachers is a struggle for all classes. But many freshmen say that being a part of this team has helped them adapt and become more comfortable around the school.

At the beginning of the season, the freshman team took a big win in the Bluegrass State Games. While winning was a big part of this game, the atmosphere stood out to players and parents. The pure excitement players had to win this game was like nothing else. “We had to create our own energy throughout this game. Without this, I don’t think we would have been able to pull through with this win”, said Jolena Thomas.

With this being one of the first games of the year for that new team, the way players played and worked together was outstanding. This was the start of a great season for the freshman team. After losing the second set, Lafayette had to push to get this win.

As the score goes back and forth with each point, the game gets closer and closer to the finish. With a quick pep talk from freshman coach Ashley Rose, players were pumped up and ready to win.

With the game ending in a score of 17-15, Lafayette came out with a win. To end it, the whole team celebrated on the court. Jolena Thomas also says, “even though this game was a while ago, it feels like it was yesterday. I think this game will be the light to lead us through the season”. As a team, they truly believe the energy and companionship they have together is better than ever.

As the volleyball team looks towards the rest of their season, they hope to see even more improvement. As a whole, Lafayette is excited for a great rest of the season. The passion and involvement that the players have on the team is inevitably the driving point to the destiny ahead of them.