November 2024
By Nancy Perez, Staff Reporter
On October 15th, KAC Volleyball hosted the annual memorable event- Senior Night, in the KAC gym, highlighting the 12th-grade Lady Cardinals.
It was a full nest in the Cardinal gym, as friends and family along with the Cardinal mascot came out to support the senior varsity girls’ final home game. Managers were hard at work preparing for the game’s success.
The Lady Cardinals who were highlighted on this night were seniors Natzel Canales, Sophia Hernandez, Karina Benitez, Milly Ponce, Van Quynh Nguyen, Merari Fraga, and Sherlyn Romero, along with team managers Everardo Tovar and Kevin Franco. Each girl was given a special gift from other individual players on the team, bringing them all a smile recognizing the momentous night.
The crowd and players began to settle in as the game was about to commence.
The first hit from Senior Natzel Canales initiated the game and scored the first point for the Lady Cardinals.
The spirit was high among the Lady Cardinals and spectators. The crowd had loud cheers for the volleyball girls, and the Cardinal Cheerleaders were also present shouting encouragement and support for the players on the court.
To prevent the spirit and momentum from fading away, and showcase KAC in full gear, a spectacular performance from the Cardinal Dance Crew took place during the break between sets.
Entering the third set, tension rose from the crowd. The teams were neck and neck on the scoreboard for each set; however, the opponents, Valor North, managed to win both of the first sets, 25-19 and 25-18. The third set was the closest of all, as Valor pulled out to a lead but the Lady Cardinals stormed back to tie the set at 19. But Valor North responded and won the third set 25-22. Their final point marked a crushing end to the game.
Although the game ended in a loss, the team, especially the seniors, made KAC proud in celebrating their accomplishments over the past four years.
Through a spectator’s perspective, something that may not be noticeable at first glance is the uniqueness of the KAC girls’ volleyball uniform, along with each of the girls’ distinct personalities. Another trait that sets KAC’s team apart are their shoe pairings: a white right shoe, and a black left one.
Coach Hurst hopes to see her Senior Volleyball players continue applying what they’ve learned from their time on the team as they transition into their post-secondary path after graduation. Specifically, she emphasized the growth the girls showed in not giving up when down two sets. “Those are the things that like, make me smile inside, because even when they’re out there, they always, like, quit on themselves, but in these situations they can’t,” Hurst said. “So it’s applying the pressure that I taught them to the situation.”
Coach Hurst also said that she has reminded the team all year of what they are capable of. “I can say to myself, I’m a thermostat, not a thermometer… It reminds me of who I am. It reminds me of where I came from. It reminds me of the grit, the integrity, all the things that everybody respects about me, so I try to give it back to them in the same manner.”
“We are thermostats, not thermometers,” she repeated. “And we create from the inside out.”
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