Last season, it took the Summit High School girls volleyball team 15 games to notch its first win. This season, the Tigers earned its first win in its first game of the season, a home match against the Clear Creek Golddiggers on Wednesday, Aug. 24, at Summit High School.

The Summit girls volleyball team took the court against Clear Creek to the cheers of a packed gymnasium. Most spectators were interested in seeing how the Tigers would start its season under the discretion of new coach Cynthia Durloo, who took over the program after the Tigers went 3-20 last season. 

In the Tigers first set, the team played with a vengeance, mounting a significant lead early on and catching the Golddiggers off guard. The Tigers onslaught of scores early in the competition was due to strong serves and spikes that cut through the Golddiggers.

Towards the end of the first set, the Tigers started to lay off the gas, which allowed the Golddiggers to score several points in a row. Eventually, Summit was able to close out the Golddiggers in the first set, winning by a score of 25-16.

Summit began the second set of the game much like the first and put a significant amount of points on the board in a matter of minutes.

Leading the charge for the Tigers was junior Chloe Nicholds, senior Kassidy Sheafe, senior libero Joanna White and senior Anna Gledhill. 

The trio of seniors especially did a good job at communicating with the rest of the team and disrupting any offensive momentum the Golddiggers attempted to gain.

The Tigers handily won the second set of the match by a score of 25-11, setting Summit up for a third and final set.

In the third set, Clear Creek got the scoring going and capitalized on a bout of fatigue that plagued Summit. Before long, however, the Tigers regained the lead and closed out the game to shut out the Goldiggers 3-0. The Tigers won the last set by a score of 25-14.

“We feel really good,” White said of the team’s first win of the season. “There was a lot of energy on the court, and the crowd brought the energy too.”

The thing that stood out to Durloo has been a main focal point of the team this season: the importance of each and every player on the court. The team relies on every player on the team in order to execute its game plan. 

“Volleyball is such a team sport because you can’t get a good hit if you don’t get a good pass and a good set,” Sheafe said. 

The Tigers will look to earn its second win of the season on Saturday, Aug. 27, when the team travels to Resurrection Christian High School. The Tigers will play its next home game against West Grand on Tuesday, Aug. 30.