HOPE — The Hauser volleyball team hopes to have everyone coming back heading into Saturday’s Edinburgh Sectional semifinal against Waldron.
Over the past week, the Jets had their entire team nearly depleted due to having to quarantine because of COVID-19 issues. It left them with seven players to finish out the final week of the regular season. They were Adrianna Musillami, Stephanie Meek, Mattie Foster, Kayden Miller, Norah Berkenstock, Haylin Campbell and Mikayla Miller.
Of the seven girls available, only Musillami, Meek, Foster and Kayden Miller have played varsity prior to last week. Musillami, a junior, and Meek, a senior, were the two top veterans on the team. The other five girls were freshmen and sophomores.
“Me and Steph had to really step up and be the positive leaders out on the court to make sure the underclassmen weren’t getting stressed out there playing varsity,” Musillami said.
One of the biggest adjustments for Meek last week was switching positions. This season, Meek has played on the right side, but last week, she played in the middle.
Meek was familiar with the middle since she played there a couple years ago, but even then, it still took some time to adjust.
“It’s different for me, considering I stopped playing middle my sophomore year,” Meek said. “It was really hard for me to make that adjustment, but I knew I had to do it for the team.”
In the two games the seven played as a unit, they fell to Greenwood Christian Academy 25-12, 23-25, 25-13, 25-14 and dropped a five-set contest to Edinburgh 16-25, 19-25, 25-12, 26-24, 15-13. The loss to Edinburgh didn’t allow the Jets to win the outright Mid-Hoosier Conference title, but they already had earned a share of it.
Hauser coach Jeff Case said something that he preaches to his team is that the players may need to adapt at any given time during the season. Last week put Case’s words into fruition.
Mikayla Miller, Campbell and Berkenstock were put into an unexpected situation not having varsity experience prior to last week.
Case said he was proud of the way his girls fought last week being shorthanded.
“I was proud of their effort. We had a chance to win the Edinburgh game. We were right there,” Case said. “I was really proud of the girls for getting a set on Greenwood Christian. That was the one that was tough, and that one really helped them get ready the next time and getting some confidence. They did a great job. The crowd and the parents were really excited to see them work hard see them. I’m really proud of the effort those girls put in.”
With the rest of the team coming back from quarantine, the Jets will have a few days to prepare for their postseason matchup with the Waldron-Edinburgh winner on Saturday.
Waldron will be the favorite against Edinburgh, and should the Mohawks prevail, it will set up a grudge match between Hauser and Waldron at 11 a.m. Saturday. The final is at 7 p.m. that evening.
The Jets (17-14) took the first contest 20-25, 25-11, 25-19, 25-14 at Waldron, and then the Mohawks took Round 2 25-23, 25-22 during Hauser’s Heritage Classic tournament.
One of the biggest things the Jets need to do prior to Saturday is building the team chemistry back up. Meek mentioned that it won’t be much of a problem after having practice on Monday.
“At first, I was a little worried that it wouldn’t,” Meek said, “but whenever everyone came back into practice, it was like nothing had ever happened.”
Musillami added, “I think we’ll be good. We’ll come back together as a team. The practices beforehand will get us back in the routine. We should be good.”
