The Mavericks’ senior night was nothing short of memorable. The girls fought hard and showed a roller coaster of emotions for the duration of the game. With a nail-biting performance, Mead pulled together a three-set sweep against Greeley Central.
Before the Mavs took on the Greeley Central Wildcats, Dree Coursey (‘24), Alyssa Kaufman (‘24), and Isabell Zuniga (‘24) had their senior spotlights—highlighting their contribution to the Maverick’s volleyball team and the accomplishments they have made on and off the court. Each of the girls gave advice for future Mavs and did one better by showing their love for the sport: leaving everything they had on that court after the final whistle.
The starting whistle blew and the Mavericks dominated from the jump. They went up 8-2 quickly as the Wildcats were struggling with communication and returning serves. The rest of the set was filled with just that from the Wildcats. Most of Greeley Central’s points in this first set came from the Mavericks making bad serves or having miscommunication. The Mavs jumped out to a 21-8 lead after a nice spike from Hailey Hall (‘25). Mead then finished out the set 25-9 showing great teamwork. You could tell that the Mavericks were having fun with this game.
Slowly, but surely, the Wildcats started to show some fight as it was only a seven-point deficit at the end of set number two. While the Mavericks had shown phenomenal teamwork at the start of the set, the Wildcats had failed to match that and quickly fell to an 11-4 trail. Although the Mavs pulled through in the end, the Wildcats made the girls work hard for every point scored. There were great volleys in set two with the Mavs being able to keep a consistent three to four-point lead. The Wildcats had rallied back to cut the Mavs’ lead to just three points (17-14). Mead was able to turn the jets on and close this second set with a win of 25-18 over these Wildcat girls.
Set number 3 was like the teams had flipped from the first set. The Wildcats jumped out to an early lead as the Mavericks were struggling to make simple plays. They slowly got back on track, and a hard spike by Coursey (‘24) made it 7-10. The Wildcats didn’t make it easy as they were making miraculous saves and truly working as a team now. The Mavs started to get frustrated which caused some sloppy team play that put the Wildcats up 16-10.
Mavericks then got tired of their sloppy play and put the pedal to the metal. They made a great comeback getting the score to 20-18 getting within just 2 of the Wildcats. The Wildcats then scored 4 points to the Mavs 1, and Greeley Central would now be on game point. Mead didn’t back down. They went on to score 6 straight points and went up 25-24. With the Mavericks on game point, they decided to put in the injured senior, Zuniga (‘24), so she could get one final play with the team she spent 4 years grinding for. Zuniga (‘24) went to serve with her non-dominant hand and hit the net giving the Wildcats the tying point. Bold by the Mavericks Head Coach Mikayla Martinez, but very sweet to see.
With the game tied at 25-25, Zuniga (‘24) gets subbed out and Mead clutches up the win scoring two straight points, sweeping the Greeley Central Wildcats on Mead’s Senior Night.
