COURTLAND
Southampton High varsity volleyball lost to Nansemond-Suffolk Academy on Monday night, and rebounded against Colonial Heights on Wednesday. The Indians fell to the Saints 25-10, 25-7 and 25-19, but knocked off the Colonials 25-16, 25-22 and 25-13.

“We had a very off night. The team as a whole played sluggish,” coach Amy Davis said of the lost to NSA. “We never got an offense going.”

It was a different contest against Colonial Heights though.

“We played much more relaxed and made some great passes to get our offense set up to be successful and dominate the match,” Davis continued. “We minimized the mistakes and the team did a great job of picking each other up when a mistake was made resulting in us maintaining the momentum throughout the match.”

Standouts for this game included Allie Holt with four aces, five kills, three assists and one save; Courtney Vinson with 13 assists, one kill and one dig; Jenna Billups with two aces, four kills and one dig; Erin Rountree with two assists, three kills and one save; Morgan Bunn with one ace, five kills and one dig; Sarah Williams with five kills, one block and five digs; and Emma Drake with two aces, 11 kills, two blocks, two digs and one save.

Varsity is now 10-2 and junior varsity is 5-3.

Several of the varsity girls made comments about these two games and the season as a whole so far.

“Monday night we struggled to play as a team. We weren’t focused, and all together, it just wasn’t good. But Wednesday we came back into our normal routine and crushed it,” player Jenna Billups said. “We all worked extraordinarily well together. We could trust that the person beside us had our backs, which is extremely important. I love every person on my team, and I am going to be very sad when the season comes to a close.”

Courtney Vinson added, “I think this season has been pretty good. We have had our ups and downs but overall we all work just like a family and Wednesday night we all played our hearts out.”

Allie Holt said, “On Monday night, we didn’t come together as a team like we usually do but by Wednesday we played with the determination and heart that we’ve always had.”

Erin Rountree stated, “This season has been a great experience so far. We are coming together as a team to work hard and dominate in games. Our close relationship with each other really helps us become a well-oiled machine.”

Southampton will play again on Tuesday night against Windsor in its annual Pink Out game. Varsity and junior varsity are competing against each other to see who can raise the most money during this game. Their goal is to raise $1,000 collectively to donate to the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation. This game is especially close to the teams’ hearts because they have three strong volleyball moms who have all won the fight against breast cancer.