Girls volleyball celebrated their senior night Tuesday with a blowout victory, crushing Roosevelt in consecutive sets on their home court in the first round of the city playoffs.

Prior to their game, girls volleyball seniors were given their own ceremony for senior night as they walked to standing ovations from the crowd across the court where they embraced their teammates.  

“Walking out it hit me that I am a senior and this is our last season,” said Michaela Ryan ‘19. “We have all done a lot of volleyball senior night traditions for the girls before us, so it was surreal having our teammates do all those things for us.”

Their teammates met them at half court with assorted goody bags consisting of custom t-shirts, custom mugs, and Jones blankets to send their teammates off with something special.

“It was really important for me to give the seniors their gifts and greet them and their families.  They truly are like a second family,” said teammate Liz Egresits ‘21.

The goody bags weren’t the only thing the seniors wanted to leave with.  There was still a game to be played and they needed a win to keep their championship hopes alive.  It was a very quick turnaround for the players, having to quickly suppress all their emotion from the ceremony and focus on the game.

“It wasn’t tough [refocusing],” said captain Mara Kavalauskas ‘19. “We knew there was a job to get done first and after we can go back to celebrating.  On the court there was definitely a lot more energy from all of us.”

That focus and energy showed on the court as the girls took control of the game from the get-go, expanding the lead quickly to 13-5 before any timeouts were called.  They did not slow down as they went on to take an easy victory in the first set, holding Roosevelt to only 10 points in a 25-10 victory.

“We were all having fun and enjoyed being on the court with all the seniors.  This rarely happened where we are all out there together,” said Kavalauskas

Following their first set victory, varsity Coach Casey Feeney decided to give the seniors one last ovation from the fans and took all of them out together as a unit, replacing them with a lineup of all juniors and underclassmen.  

“None of us were expecting to play in the second set so we were all confused, but we wanted to make the seniors proud and quickly finish the game,” said Egresits

And they did just that, trouncing Roosevelt in the second set 25-3 in a set that included a 14-0 run that put Jones up 18-2.  They sealed the deal with a 7 point run and were able to send the seniors home happy with a win to add to their goody bag.

“It was so fun to see them all play because we know we are leaving the volleyball program in great hands,” said Ryan “We have some truly talented girls coming up.”

After their win Thursday against Westinghouse, girls volleyball turns their focus to next Monday when they will face Payton in the third round of the city playoffs as they continue their path to the city championship on Thursday, Oct. 18.