The Varsity Volleyball Team split at Ark City this past Tuesday, beating Ark City in two sets but falling to Andover. The Hornets are now 10-5 on the season.

Scores are as follows:
Valley Center vs. Ark City: 25-14, 25-13 (W)
Valley Center vs. Andover: 21-25, 22-25 (L)

Against Ark City the Hornets competed well and remained consistent throughout the match, but where they stood out the most was in their hitting, achieving a +.488 team hitting percentage (their highest of any match so far this season). Taylor McDonald (So.) led the team in kills and hitting percentage, getting 7 kills off of her 8 attempts and hitting a +.875. The team's strong hitting performance allowed for the team to maintain pressure throughout the match and finish efficiently. Other stat leaders include Ava Jacquez's 2.38 serve receive rating, Avery Looney's 14 assists, and Malia Smith's 2.5 serve rating and 10 digs on the match.

Against Andover the Hornets started off strong, going point for point throughout the first set, but ultimately fell short. In the second set the team dug themselves a hole early, but managed to fight back in the middle of the set and overcome a 7 point deficit. However, the team made 5 errors during the last 5 points of the match, allowing Andover to secure the win. Highlights from the match include Taylor McDonald's 7 kills and +.400 hitting percentage, Malia Smith's 2.12 serve receive rating, and Malia Smith and Avery Looney's 2.60 serve rating.

Although the Hornets endured a tough loss this past week, the team has been working hard at practice and is excited for their tournament at Maize this weekend. The team's number one goal for the day is to work on finishing matches against the good competition that they will see throughout the day. Varsity will play the first game of the day at 9am tomorrow morning (9/16) against Maize.

GO HORNETS!