Ending On A Good Note: Senior Night for Girls' Volleyball!
On Wednesday, October 13th, the girls’ volleyball team had their last home game against Waverly. The last home game is special because it doubles as Senior Night. The seniors on the team this year were Ada Argueta ’22 and Ruby Wenzlaff ’22, and by the way that their teammates and coach describe them, it’s easy to see how much they contributed to the success of the team.
The game took place at Sequoyah’s K-8 campus. Sequoyah won the first two sets, then barely lost the third. They almost had it, but the rule is that you have to win by two points. When Sequoyah was one point away from Victory, Waverly would get a point, and so on. This pattern went on for a few points. Waverly tied it up and then snatched the set. The game rolled into a fourth set, and Sequoyah ended up winning 3 to 1.
The game was special to the team for more reasons than one. Mackey Bishop ’23 explained how because it was Senior Night, they had the greatest crowd attendance of the season. The team loved having an audience, especially since it included members of the administrative team, among them Marc Alongi, Josh Brody, RJ Sakai, and Cliff Mason II, as well as parents and friends.
While the win was meaningful to the team, Senior Night made the whole evening more of a heartfelt experience. Coach Miles said it best: “Senior Night is always special, highlighting the work they put in over the[ir] time at [Sequoyah] for the team. [It’s] always good to get the ‘dub’ (win) for Senior Night.” The team and the coaches gave speeches and made posters to honor Argueta and Wenzlaff. Their teammates expressed how much leadership they brought to the team this year. Argueta is considered to be the “mom” of the team. Bishop describes how Argueta “yells at us and she also is like ‘good job! Good job!’ It’s really nice actually.” She also explained how Wenzlaff “is really so calming and nice to have around. Just super encouraging and loving and keeps us grounded.”
According to Argueta and Wenzlaff, Senior Night was incredibly meaningful to them. Senior Night gave the seniors time to reflect on the season and their entire Sequoyah volleyball experience. Argueta is the first and only player (so far) to have been on the team for four full years. According to Argueta, volleyball gave her “a good opportunity to build friendships with upperclassmen before school even started.” Likewise, Wenzlaff described how valuable the experience of playing volleyball at Sequoyah has been for her. According to Wenzlaff, “what I value most is a sense of perseverance. It has helped me with staying determined and being motivated and not giving up even when you’re doing kind of poorly in a game.”
While Sequoyah didn’t win every game this season, the team sees it as a success. Argueta and Wenzlaff agree that “this [season was] definitely the best.” The team improved a lot this year and did better than in the past few years. Erika Revel ’24, another player on the team, said that she “feels like a lot of people improved,” including herself and her friends. However, everyone agreed that while the team’s improvement was remarkable this year, the thing that made it a true success was the support and connections they made with each other. Argueta describes that it was a success because of “A supportive team… Because even when we would miss balls, serves, people that were on the bench were just constantly cheering [them] on.”
Senior Night was a great way to show appreciation for Argueta and Wenzlaff for their leadership this year, as well as to celebrate a great season full of growth for everyone on the team. It was a heartfelt experience overall. Congratulations to the girls’ volleyball team for a memorable season!