The Issaquah volleyball on Oct. 12 team took a hit to their winning streak against Skyline, Skyline winning 1-2 games deeming Skyline victorious after Skyline came out with some hard hits. Although the game had ended in a loss the Eagles had come back from a 7-23 score to end the game 14-25 closing most of the games score’s gap.
In most sports, Skyline is notoriously known for being a rival but as No.7 junior Zoey Schuler says, “I’m pretty close with at least three of the people on the other team so I guess I just felt more competitive than other games and I really wanted to win.” Sophomore Madison Mcgrath adds, “It’s not as aggressive as much as rivals in volleyball as it is in other sports, but I feel like I know other girls on the team.”
Knowing Skyline was their opponent, Issaquah started out with great morale pumped to start their third game of the week. Coach Lowe says, “Whenever we go to play a team my thing is not to go in scared and not going in defeated because if I go in defeated then I’m already defeated.” Issaquah bounces on the court as the game board starts at 0-0. The first game was a slower pace with more back and forth scoring having a tied score at about half 13-13. After more powerful serves, spikes, and blocks from both Issaquah and Skyline, they fought their way to the end. The score inched up from 13-13, to 16-17, all the way to 24-24. It was anyone’s game and Issaquah was not ready to give up their first game. Unfortunately, Skyline sends two rockets towards the Eagles causing the score to end in 24-26 as they need to score two more than Issaquah after reaching 25 points.
After a short break Issaquah does a chant and bounds back onto the court ready to win back their second game. As the game starts off 3-1 Issaquah up from an amazing spike from Schuler as the ball ripples off her hand smashing into the opposing teams’ blockers bouncing in the court securing their early lead. After more back and forth scoring amazing saves and blocks from No.18 sophomore Madison McGrath and No.4 sophomore Brooklyn Marshall helping their team stay right on Skyline’s tail putting up a fight. Halfway through the game Issaquah had lost their lead, the game sitting at 13 Skyline against 12 Issaquah and after lots of close calls and long rallies the game continued to go to 21-17 as Issaquah kept making game winning plays with good spikes blocks and serves. Issaquah’s teamwork and communication between all these plays is what had lead Issaquah making all these great plays. As Schuler adds, “[There is] a bigger sense connection with each other and community like really good friends.” This leads to a game point at 24-18 as Issaquah scores the winning point on a perfect inside left line (almost out of bounds) spike that causes the receiver to hit the ball off into the stands causing them to come back and tie the games to 1 to 1.
With Issaquah’s morale up after their win in the second game they entered the court early with no hesitation ready to take back on Skyline. Skyline, determined to win, did a loud chant to which Issaquah responded with a circle up on the court before Skyline did their first serve. The game started 2-1 after some long rallies the game and gym quieted down waiting for the next serve. On the fourth point, player No. 2 made a great save but sadly the team missed the receive allowing Skyline to score another point. After some good out of bound calls and a great smash by #4 off the net on the court after Skyline had made some good saves, she secured the score of 4-4 coming back from their 4-1 score. More killer saves as No. 2 dove for the ball after being down 7-5 as the ball soared but sadly did not make it back over. The score was now 5-10 after Issaquah made some great plays. Skyline just kept hitting back harder but Issaquah was not going to just stop there. Issaquah still put up a fight with great receivers from No. 2 and No. 18 as they kept the ball afloat. But Skyline’s server No. 3 would not let them get a break with her amazing rockets heading straight for the ground. After a long rein from Skyline leading 5-18, they finally slipped up giving a point to Issaquah, reawakening their chances at winning the game. As more volleyballs flew over the net Skyline put up a good fight causing the score to reach 7-21. After good calls by players both side gained more points getting the score to 9-23. With an amazing save for game over by player No. 2 running into the bleachers she kept the game alive at 11-24 as she also made a great spike. Issaquah was not going down without a fight as they were slowly gaining, with a great tip by #4 over the net causing the score to reach 14-24. Sadly, with a punch Skyline won the game 14-25. Skyline had taken this game’s crown with winning 2 -1.
Do not forget to come out and support out Issaquah Eagles on their next volleyball adventure!
