SARANAC — They knew it was going to be a tough task. They didn’t waver.
AuSable Valley battled, with plans to grab a set but that came up short as they fell to Stillwater, 3-0.
The sets went to the Warriors by scores of 25-18, 25-19 and 25-7.
“We played so hard for those first two sets and not being able to come out with a win in either of them was unfortunate,” Patriot head coach Mirissa O’Neill said.” We knew going in that it would be a hard match, but we had a lot of hope coming out with a point.”
While AuSable still battled in the third set, O’Neill said the team was mentally exhausted. They put so much effort in the first two sets that it was hard to get up for the final one.
“[Stillwater is] a better team than us skillswise, we were checked out mentally,” she said. “The girls played really hard defense even with Stillwater hitting really hard balls at us. Mentally they were exhausted.”
Only one team gets true satisfaction at the end of a season as a state champion, so not every team gets to feel happiness when their season concludes.
Count the Patriots on the list.
During the final set as the points went down, emotions were being shown on the faces of the AuSable players as their season, and possibly volleyball careers were coming to an end.
But, O’Neil told them to keep their heads up and be proud of the effort they put on the field.
“They played so hard and left it all on the court,” O’Neill said. “They had nothing to be upset about.
“We talked about growth and how proud I am of each and every one of them. We wanted to keep it positive in that aspect.”
AuSable Valley finishes the season with a 6-10 record and says goodbye to four seniors – Raven Sessoms, Ellie Reid, Kamri Vincent and Kennedy Keefe.
Looking back at the season as a whole, O’Neill said she was most proud of the growth she had witnessed from each one of the girls on her team.
“I’m really proud of each one of them,” she said. “In volleyball there’s typically six spots on the court so playing time is limited. I’m proud of how they handled their playing time, and how they took care of their jobs when called upon.
“They have nothing to be disappointed about. They’re really great girls.”
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Stillwater 3, AuSable Valley 0
25-19, 25-18, 25-7
Douglass 5 digs, 2 kills, 1 ace, 1 point, Axtell 1 assist, 2 kills, 2 blocks, Keefe 11 digs, 1 ace, 1 point. Parrow- Rascoe 2 digs, 5 assists, 1 kill, 4 aces, 7 points. Reid 5 digs, 2 points. Sessoms 7 digs, 2 kills, 5 aces, 12 points. Vincent 2 digs, 1 kill, 1 point .