Park girls volleyball faced the Washburn Millers Sept. 23, and after a long back-and-forth game, lost 3-2. Park was able to keep it close, with the fifth set ending just two points behind Washburn, but ultimately couldn’t close the deal.
According to junior Grace Johnson, the team wants to work on keeping energy up and not letting bad moments bring them down.
“Our main focus was honestly just to have a lot of high energy and work as a team,” Johnson said. “We struggle a lot with going up and down and being less consistent, so we’re trying to focus on that.”
Head coach Sam Hanlon said this game was one of the more important ones because Washburn is in Park’s conference, so the results of the game could affect their section tournament standings.
“Our main focus was to try to win against a sectional opponent,” Hanlon said. “We had times that were really good and times that were not good.”

Senior captain Meaghan Knight said the team was able to come together at moments, but not enough to stay on top for the length of the game.
“We definitely disconnected on the court a good amount of times,” Knight said. “We sometimes found ways to get back into the rhythm, but at the end of the day, it wasn’t enough to make us come back.”
Johnson said the team was able to stay on their toes throughout the game, especially senior Amara Schroeder, and there were specific moments where the team had impressive plays.
“We had a lot of good hustle,” Johnson said. “Amara had a lot of good hustle with shanking passes, she had a lot of good hustle getting (the ball) back into play. We had a few covers off the blocks that I thought were cool.”
According to Knight, sophomore Celia Slattengren was able to help the team keep their energy up.
“Celia Slattengren, she’s a sophomore, she did really good just pushing herself from the core and just radiating positive energy. That was very contagious,” Knight said.
Hanlon said the team had a few good sets where they were able to play consistently, and didn’t let bad sets affect their positivity.
“I’d rather highlight the team than individual players, but they did an okay job of staying with it in certain sets (and) not letting things get them down,” Hanlon said.
Knight said, going forward, the team knows to play to their full potential without worrying about aspects of other teams.
“We (learned) to not walk into a game being arrogant,” Knight said. “Being ready to work hard, no matter how they play, to play our game and just being consistent on our side. If we’re consistent on our side, they will make mistakes, and we can win.”
Park volleyball faces Chaska next at 7 p.m. Sept. 26 at Chaska High School.