Volleyball team returns with a championship

Facing difficult competition, the MacArthur girls volleyball team becomes victorious at the Santa Ana Unified School District tournament on October 24.

The girls volleyball team coached by Mrs. Arriola Carrigan and Mrs. Maryellen Primm won the championship on October 24 at Saddleback High School.  According to Carrigan the team worked hard and were dedicated and tried their best to win and they achieved it.

The tournament was from 8:30 AM until 5:00 PM. Each match lasted from thirty minutes to one hour.  MacArthur’s volleyball team defeated six intermediate schools at the championship.

They played Spurgeon Intermediate School, 25-15 and 25-13, Lathrop Intermediate School, 25-3 and 25-21, Santiago Intermediate School, 25-8 and 25-13, and won and lost one game to Esqueda Elementary School.  The scores for the games with Esqueda Elementary are 18-25 and 25-19 and 15-12.  Other schools they played are Willard Intermediate School, 27-25 and 17-25 and 15-7, and they beat Carr Intermediate School twice, first game 25-21 and 25-18, and the second game 25-16 and 25-23.

To prepare, Carrigan and Primm had the team do many drills.  The team did serving drills, passing drills, spiking drills, blocking drills, footwork drills, and game situation drills.

To make the team, Carrigan looked for specific qualities in each player: volleyball skill level, hardwork, and dedication.

On the September 11 the first meeting was held and eighty people attended.  At the tryouts, which were held on September 14, Carrigan chose twenty out of the eighty students that.  Practices lasted five weeks for four days a week from 2:35-4:15.  They practiced about an hour and a half on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.

When the volleyball team found out they won, their faces had big smiles and there was happiness all around.

There were even tears of happiness. Carrigan said, “I was happy but not surprised, because I set the expectation for the team and they met the expectation. They worked hard and met the expectation to win the tournament.”

“I felt pride winning; I felt like I was with a family,” said seventh-grader Ruth Nieto.  “I joined volleyball because my sister was in volleyball and if I did volleyball I would feel like if she was with me.”

Through leadership and dedication, the girl’s volleyball team showed they were the best.