After an intense week of post-season volleyball, varsity Co-Ed volleyball team’s season came to an end after falling to the Sherwood Warriors in three sets at Sherwood High School (HS) May 9. This comes off a previous playoff win May 7 against the fourth-seeded Gaithersburg Trojans in the quarter-final playoff game, in which the Rams advanced to the final four of the county playoffs for the first time in more than 20 years.

In the match against the Trojans, the Rams outplayed them by winning three of the four sets. The Rams’ defensive efforts were key in their victory against the Trojans.

“We did really well on serve-receive and got lots of blocks. We also did a good job communicating,” junior outside hitter Lizzie Weir said.

Although the team was excited about their victory, their focus quickly shifted to the next match. Two days later the Rams visited Sherwood HS for their third-round playoff match and, ultimately, their last of the season. They lost to the undefeated Warriors in three straight sets.

The Warriors talent was apparent from the outset, and despite losing all three sets, the Rams fought until the end. The varsity squad started out making sloppy mistakes, like serve-receive and blocking, but settled down and began to play the volleyball that got them to the playoffs. Serve-receive is how the players receive the ball after their opponents serve, and blocking is when two players try to block the opponents’ hits.

“We really needed to work on covering each other better when we hit or block. As a team, we all needed to help each other,” sophomore setter Kara Mach said.

The Rams started to gain confidence in the second set after scoring several unanswered points, and only trailed the Warriors by two points, but the Warriors quickly rebuilt their lead.

Players said they were disappointed to see their season come to an end having advanced further than any RHS Co-Ed volleyball team in the last 20 years, but the players added that they are determined to improve and go even further next year. This will be a challenge for the young Rams team, as they lose several starting seniors who were instrumental to the team’s success this season. They include: Alia Ward, Deondre Tilman, Michael La, and Rampage writers, Matt DiFonzo and Aidan Brami.

“Some of our goals for next season are to get all of our serves in, to play smarter, and to win division and counties,” Mach said.

Kara Mach is the sister of Editor-in-Chief Elenna Mach. Seniors Aidan Brami and Matthew DiFonzo are Rampage editors.