A popular tradition for most athletes is to dress up for home games. The McPherson High School girls came to school representing that tradition ready and dressed for success for their first home game of the season on August 29th. One of the core values used throughout the day was confidence and it was later on used on the court.

The varsity team won their first match 25-9, 25-15 against Mulvane. The girls also won their second match 25-16, 25-11 against Wellington. The junior varsity team won their first match 25-21, 25-19 against Mulvane and their scores for the second match against Wellington was 25-18, 22-25, 25-17.

With the varsity and junior varsity pulling out those 2 wins, Coach Doile seemed to be very impressed with the girls were using their core values on the court.

“I’m very proud of how the varsity has used their core values.  I’ve been real impressed on how coachable they are, they have wonderful teachable spirit,” said Coach Doile.  “When they are struggling with mental toughness (panicking a bit) or being discipline (letting balls drop, missing serves) as soon as I communicate to them they aren’t being mentally tough or discipline, things we’ve trained, they come out of the time out or between sets to actively fix their attitude.”

The freshman girls came to school September 7th dressed and ready for success for their first home game of the season.

The first match they lost 20-25, 21-25 against Andale. The second match they came through winning 25-13, 25-11 against Buhler and their third match they came out winning once again 25-14, 25-17 against Clearwater. 

The freshman starting out on game one had a rough start with communicating and getting excited, but the varsity and  junior varsity came and saved the day with being the loudest cheering students in the roundhouse; so loud that people were moving to different seats. They really showed true leadership to the freshman girls to keep there heads up and get excited.

“Learning to play with discipline is important and they continue to improve each day in this area by actively participating in practice with a purpose and with intensity,” said Coach Fitzmorris. “They also are beginning to “think” about the game of volley and not just react, which allows our kids to play with some mental toughness!  Adjusting to high school volleyball is not an easy task, but taking small steps in the right direction can lead to a great freshman season. The one area we are lacking is a true leader. Someone who can take the reins, and drive this team to play with specific goals in mind.”