The Berkley High School freshman volleyball team played at Farmington Hills High School for their Tri on Saturday, Oct. 17. Berkley played against Farmington Hills as well as Canton High School starting at 8:30 am. Although they went in with 3 missing players and a new lineup, the Bears came out victorious in both games, beating Canton 3-0 by the scores of 25-18, 25-12, and 15-13.

Although through the game they kept a consistent lead, in the third game of Canton it got a little close.

A player on the team, Sophia Bielecki, stated, “As soon as our coach gave us words of encouragement, we stepped up and took the win.”

Berkley also defeated Farmington Hills 3-0, with sets resulting in, 25-12, 25-16, and 15-12.

On this game, Bielecki commented, “We played well this game, and kept up a lead the whole time.”

“We were the strongest with our ball control and stamina. I think that contributed to our wins,” Bielecki reflected on both games. “Considering we had a new lineup that we haven’t learned, we played very well. We were all motivated.”

Both Bielecki and fellow teammate Sharmel Gibson acknowledged the large contribution Mariah Jones gave to their win, with great blocking throughout all the games.

“Lily Tylenda, (the Libero), had a lot of aces and a very good back-row kill.” Gibson began. “Erica Mayry had a really good game. She had a lot of outside hits and her serves were really good!”

In reflection of the contributions given from the team, Gibson explained that “Volleyball is a team sport, so each player was a big part of why we won. If one person messes up it is not their fault, but it is the team’s responsibility to fix that mistake and win the point. Our team was very supportive of each other, which helped us all play better.”

In these two games, the Berkley freshman team used not only individual strength but teamwork to sweep both teams.