Youth vs Experience is a tale as old as time when it comes to one of Haldane’s most exciting traditions: students vs faculty games. For this year’s volleyball version of the match played on November 7th, expertise earned by years of practice trumped the energy of the young. Unfortunately, the exciting night did not end well for the students.
The Freshman class put forth their best effort, but it wasn’t enough to defeat the Haldane staff. “I never thought I would be playing a volleyball game,” said Freshman Kaiser Toribio. “Yet there I was participating in one.”
The Sophomore class fielded nine players. Sophomore Liv Holmbo coached the team, and said she thought they could have performed better. “They were easy enough to coach, but more effort could’ve been used from players.” Holmbo explained. ‘If there were more participants, it could’ve been a different game, but we worked with what he had and we tried our best.” Maggie Hall, a starter on Varsity volleyball, led her team in scoring points and helped players who were unfamiliar with the game. However, her efforts weren’t enough to lead the sophomores to a win.
The Junior Class had a smaller number of players and were unable to field a coach. Miley-Pena Ryder was able to successfully serve on all attempts, helping the score lean towards the juniors but ultimately they were unable to beat the staff’s point lead, and the junior class also fell to the faculty. Ryder stated that the game was “enjoyable and entertaining” as she stayed for all 4 games. “Seeing the faculty beat the students was really something to watch,” she noted of the entire evening.
The Senior class had a good turnout and their good communication was on show as they created plays and successfully ran them. Senior Martha Mcbride was a big presence on the court, scoring and helping lead her team, although the seniors had a disadvantage as few on the team had any volleyball experience. Even so, the seniors put up one of the strongest fights against the staff, but in the end were also unable to pull off a victory.
On the faculty’s team, 6th grade Social Studies teacher Jeff Sniffen, High School Math teacher Kristen Peparo, and High School Social Worker Scott Many and many others battled against the students as they dominated the court. Varsity Volleyball Coach Nancy Bowden was one of the most experienced on the court as she plays in an adult league in addition to coaching at Haldane. Mr. Sniffen added to the team with dramatic dives, and Mrs. Peparo had a great setter’s dump during the game where she looked as if she was going to set the ball to another player but instead placed it over the net. This strategy was successful and helped lead the staff team to their many victories over the each grade of students.
Overall the effort and determination to beat the students worked as the Faculty won this year’s games and continued their two-year winning streak. Maybe next year the students will be able to put the staff’s reign of terror to an end.
