Adam Vilmin
Staff Writer
After a thrilling, come-from-behind win against seventh ranked Lincoln Land, the Cobra volleyball team dominated the annual Parkland Classic tournament at home. Winning all six of their games during the tournament preserves the Cobra’s unbeaten streak, only giving up six sets total the entire season.
In the season’s first home tournament the Cobras continued to demonstrate their unrelenting ability on the court.
“The girls performed well this weekend with a couple of important region wins and a couple of wins against ranked opponents,” head coach Cliff Hastings said. “There’s always an advantage to playing at home, but when it’s six matches in three days, that’s a lot to ask for and anything can happen.”
The tournament was also an opportunity for the team to get to show off their dedication and practice throughout the season for the hometown crowd.
Sophomore Miaya Peacock said “playing in front of people who don’t get to see us that often” makes it special. “Our families don’t travel as far as we do most of the time, so its nice to have them see us,” Peacock said.
“Since our tournaments are often Friday through Saturday, it can be difficult for some families to make it and see the fruits of the girls’ labor on the court,” Hastings said. “It’s nice to have a home tournament for the girls’ families to be a part of the success, and it’s also nice from a recruiting perspective to give an opportunity for future recruits see our team in action in our facility and get excited to be a future Cobra.”
Success early on in the season is far from enough for the Cobras. A national championship is the goal, after coming just short last year, and the team’s focus and drive is unrelenting.
“[Coach Hastings] is doing a really good job of amping up every practice, and we’re always introducing new things to work on. He’s just always thinking ahead, so I think that we have even more to learn, and he’s pushing us to not just settle on what we have,” sophomore Ayla Dew said.
“We have a couple of tough weekends coming up with Johnson County’s tournament and Des Moines Area’s tournament where we’ll play the top teams in the country again,” Hastings said. “Win or lose, we want to make sure we are learning about ourselves and putting ourselves in difficult situations so at Nationals, we are physically, emotionally and mentally prepared. However, we are also working hard to be successful off the court finding balance between volleyball, classes, building relationships and creating memories.”
Peacock said the comeback win against Lincoln Land was “comforting.”
“It brings back memories to the national championship last year, with the same predicament, except we lost.” Peacock said. “Now it’s the same, but at the beginning of the season and we win.”
Peacock said it “gives me a lot of confidence that we can do it at any time.”
