For the second year in a row, the Oxford varsity volleyball team went undefeated in the Flint Metro League, and took top honors in six of eight tournaments, while taking second place in the other two.
“The girls had a great year and worked very hard throughout the season,” said assistant coach Danielle Gerbe. “They reached every goal this year with the exception of districts.”
The Lady Wildcats lost to North Branch this past Friday 16-14, 15-9.
“The events that occurred that day just seemed to be out of our hands,” said Gerbe. “We had some really bad luck earlier in the day.”
The bad luck happened when starting player Lindsey Tarrant was injured during gym class and had to be taken to the hospital. The Lady Wildcats scrambled to learn a new line up with new positions during a three hour practice.
“The girls had a hard time emotionally dealing with the bad news and just never recovered,” said Gerbe, “but they never gave up and I’m really proud of them for that.”
The Wildcats put up a strong fight against North Branch during the first match, but with the loss of some of their plays and not being able to mix up the front row offense as well, the second round became bumpy. However, Oxford kept their defense tight throughout.
“The girls played all new positions on short notice and did a wonderful job accepting their new roles,” said Gerbe. “That’s not a very easy thing for them to deal with the day of.”
The Lady Wildcats are saying goodbye to five players this year.
Senior Caryn Inman is set to play for Madonna College next year and Jacqui Ludeman will be hitting for the Navy team.
“I just want to say good luck to all the seniors,” added Gerbe. ” I had the opportunity to work with some outstanding athletes and I have the best of wishes to them in whatever they do after this.”
“We had a really special bunch of girls this year.”