Hopkins/Park’s joint boys volleyball team played its first game at Park May 1. Facing the St. Michael-Albertville Knights, the team found themselves down two sets but were able to bring the game back to a tied 2-2 sets. The match came down to the final point and Park lost.
This was the first and only game Hopkins/Park volleyball played at Park High school.
Senior Owen Barnett said he cherished being able to play a game at home.
“I felt honored finally being able to play a game at home after all these years playing at different schools (other than Park),” Barnett said.
Senior John Miller said he felt great being able to play at Park. He said the energy from the crowd and his team’s bench helped team morale.
“It felt great (to play at Park)—like I was at home finally,” Miller said. ”This was the first game where our bench was (cheering us on) loud, it kept the energy up for the whole game and I loved that.”
Head coach Zach Awsumb said the team’s earlier matchup against Eden Prairie helped them to prepare for tonight’s match.
“On Tuesday, we played Eden Prairie, which is another tough opponent. We took them to four sets and learned a lot about ourselves,” Awsumb said. “We knew we had a tough match tonight but we still came in and battled until the end.”
Miller said the team was working together very well but their callouts on the court could have been better.
“Teamwork was everything in this game; we were loud and our teamwork carried us through,” Miller said. “(We could have improved on) communicating our outsides and middle sets.”
Barnett said he’s hoping the team can improve their teamwork and morale as well as their defense.
“(We need) more consistent energy for sure,” Barnett said. “On our defense, our positioning was pretty inconsistent and it led to some mistakes.”
Awsumb said the team was able to keep up with another great team. According to him, playing strongly throughout the entire match is one facet of the game they hope to improve on.
“We needed some more consistency throughout the five sets,” Awsumb said. ”But at the end of the day, that’s one of the top programs in the state we just competed with all the way to the end, there’s just a few little things we need to fix to (do well) throughout the rest of the season.”
Hopkins/Park’s next game is at 6 p.m. May 6 at Coon Rapids High School.
