by Luna Sandoval
The Ouray High School girls volleyball season came to an end on Tuesday, October 25 after what many of the girls felt was a successful season.
Volleyball practices began early August where new high school players had the time to adjust to changes and returning players could revive their skills. The team welcomed three new coaches, two of whom had graduated from Ouray High School and participated in many sports while in school.
The team also welcomed a traveling coach who heard about the job while visiting Ouray Colorado with his family over the summer. Brian McDowell has been traveling the United States with his family and two dogs in an RV. Now that volleyball season has come to an end, he and his family will get back on the road, in hopes of returning to Ouray to coach again next season. He ended up extending his stay an extra two months.
Many of the new players coming in from middle school quickly learned that high school sports are a big commitment, “and are very much worth that commitment,” said Senior Pallen McArdle who has been involved with high school sports throughout her entire high school career. Practices were held every weekday from 6-8pm and most Saturdays were spent on the bus heading to games in Cedaredge, Grand Junction, Telluride, and even as far as tournaments in Buena Vista.
Because the team was a junior varsity team due to lack of experienced players, there were a lot of scheduling difficulties. Games were a challenge to get onto the calendar, and incorporating those into the calendar among many other activities added to that challenge. Athletic director Bernie Pierce worked day and night contacting different schools and attending many meetings to reach the number of 15 games.
The small roster - just eight girls - made for other challenges. Brooke Edder was excited about “getting so much time to play as a freshman,” but also found that she was being hard on herself as she “just wanted everything to be perfect.” Brooke, along with her two other classmates who played, saw much improvement individually and among the team.
“We are the future of girls volleyball at Ouray School” said freshman Hadley Choate, “and there's a lot of pressure, but also a lot of excitement”.
A final challenge was planning a senior night for the three senior players. Traditionally senior night is held at the end of the season, in October on the last home game. The team's last home game was towards the end of September. Senior Morgan Clark was “a little bummed” that it was held a lot earlier than usual, but is “still thankful the girls even got a senior night.” Community members, teachers, students, and supporters from other towns celebrated along with the players and “it resulted in a very loud and enjoyable night,” said Pallen.
While many were hoping that the team would be able to play on a varsity level and meet the minimum number of 20 games in a season, the players quickly learned that the most important thing was that they were participating in the sport and having fun.
“It got a little challenging at times, because there were some practices where there were only three people,” said junior Mackenzie Karus. “It was my first year ever playing volleyball so I felt like I had a lot of catching up to do.” She is very satisfied with how she ended the season and is hoping to be able to continue to play in her senior year.