On Thursday, Sept. 23, the Antioch Sequoits volleyball team matched up against their cross-town rival, Lakes Community High School. The Sequoits entered the nerve-racking game ready to dominate; however, the girls came up short, surrendering the first two sets. 

“I felt like I was very consistent and versatile with my setting in order to run a fast and effective offense,” senior Ana Marcell said.

Taking positives away from a lost game is always good. Realizing that there were good moments is key to bouncing back, but even more importantly, it is key to look at what the team did not do well and see what can be done to get better.

“I think as a team we need to work on our ability to push points faster and get ourselves out of rotations,” senior Annika Lindstrom said. “We find ourselves struggling in, and cutting off the opponent’s serving runs more quickly in order to do that. I feel it’s been something we struggled with all of the games we’ve lost.”

“As a team, I think we need to work on hitting to where people aren’t on the court and covering the blocks,” junior Juliana Rettig said.

The Sequoits plan on working hard in practice and improving from their mistakes. They still have a shot at the conference championship and the opportunity to go deep into the playoffs.

“I’m looking forward to the Grayslake North game because they have won conference the past two years,” Marcell said. “Even though we had an unfortunate loss to Lakes, we are still able to win conference if we beat Grayslake North.”

In the end, the loss for the Sequoits was a minor bump. The girls are not discouraged and are fully prepared for weeks to come as they look to be very successful the rest of the year.