On Monday, September 25th, the Oakdale Girls Varsity Volleyball team faced off against the Linganore Lancers in the gym.

After a traditional group stance for the national anthem, the two teams shook hands, and the game began with a serve from Linganore.

With strong group communication, the Bears won the first three successive points, but the other team quickly caught up with them.

The first set was even point wise, with each team earning two points, then losing two points or so. As the Bears reached the magic number, twenty-five, to win the first set, all they had to do was win one more point and be ahead by two. Linganore unexpectedly scored first, and it was a heated extra seven rallies that gave the first set to the Lancers.

At the beginning of the second set, the Bears started out strong with the first three points. This second set proved to be a lot more difficult for the opposing team, as the Bears slowly racked up more points.

More rallies happened in this set than any of the others as everyone was at the top of their game. Eventually the Bears won the second set with a solid lead of eleven points.

As the gym grew hotter, so did the tension between the rival teams. The Lancers had a strong lead for the third set, which the home team steadily ate away at as they got back on their feet.

Soon enough, both teams were on even grounds with seventeen points each, and then a slow battle for twenty-five ensued. After a long, hard battle, the Lancers won the third set against the Bears 25 – 23.

The fourth set showed promise that the Bears were going to win, as they consistently had double the points of their opponents.

Slowly the Lancers began to close the point gap. Oakdale crushed Linganore in the fourth set with twenty-five to fourteen as the point total

In the end, the Bears won their seventh game in a row, keeping their undefeated streak.

Alyssa Bennett (Sophomore) is an Outside Hitter for our Girls Volleyball Team. She has played volleyball at Oakdale for three years.

She mentioned that, “[During the game] I am the most proud of my serves although, I wish that I would have changed where I stood to adjust for where the ball was being hit more often during the game.”

She offered that new players should make sure not to get frustrated and “give yourself time” when first learning how to play.

Caroline Paroby (Junior) is the the team Libero. Her main job is defense. She receives the serves and hits the balls that get very close to hitting the floor called “digs”.

She has played at the Frederick Volleyball club and for the High Performance Beach Team volleyball in the summer.

On Tuesday, October 17th, the team will have a “Dig Pink” game against Smithsburg in order to raise money for breast cancer research. There will be a chance for students to pay a dollar for one serve across the gym with prizes on the other side. If you manage to hit something with the volleyball you get to take it home.

Make sure to come out next Tuesday and support the Bears!