The season may have started out a little rough.

“We lost about fifteen matches because of Harvey,” Shannon McClellen, varsity volleyball head coach, said. However, Clear Springs’ varsity volleyball bounced back this season, making it to the playoffs. The team put up a good fight, going to four games against Dawson High School on Monday night during the first round of playoffs.

The team lost the first two games 19-25, and 18-25 respectively. However, the third game saw the Chargers more than double Dawson’s score, winning 25-12. Sadly, game four ended 17-25, Dawson’s win.

The team’s players were proud of how it all ended, though. “I didn’t think anyone had a bad game,” Hannah Floyd, four-year player, said.

Jalynn Finnie (12), #6 on Dawson’s team, spoke highly of the Springs team. “They were really strong defensively, and put up a good fight for sure,” said Finnie.

Floyd, although glad she and her team played well, was upset when talking about the season being over. “That was the last game for most of us to play together,” Floyd (12) said. “We’re not going to play together again, and just to think I don’t have anymore games in high school is really upsetting.”

It seemed as if the other team members were sad of letting a good thing go, too. “It was such a fun game for me to play, my last one,” Avery Doubenmier (12) said. “I don’t think I would’ve wanted to go out any other way than that.”

Clear Springs will lose seven of its varsity volleyball players next year as seniors graduate. Surprisingly though, there is a lot of younger talent moving up. There are four sophomores and one freshman on the team.

Shyia Richardson, the first team newcomer for the district as well as the only freshman on the team, said she thought she had played a good season, but was sad to see the seniors go. “I’m going to miss the seniors so much,” Richardson said. “Next year is going to be so different.”

It definitely wasn’t only the players feeling sad about the season’s closure. “It’s never easy to let them go,” McClellen said about losing her senior players. “You build relationships with these kids, and they’re all important to you. I consider them all my own kids.”

Nevertheless, Clear Springs volleyball, after playing a good season with a district record of 9-5, is over for now, but it sounds like they will continue to build a strong team next year, and another shot at the playoffs.