Sports | September 30, 2021
VOLLEYBALL GIRLS GOING TO NEXT LEVEL BY BRADEN BABKA
F
Editor
or most of their childhood and now on Kaneland’s varsity team, seniors Madison Buckley (outside hitter) and Meghan O’Sullivan (setter / right side hitter) have been playing volleyball, training to be able to compete at the collegiate level. With their goals set high, they both knew they would be able to play at the next level if they worked hard enough. As a result of that determination, both girls will be playing volleyball next year in college. Buckley will be at Ball State University and O’Sullivan at Grand Valley State University (GVSU). Buckley and O’Sullivan’s strong relationship isn’t hard to pick up on. However, what might not be so obvious to Kaneland students is that these same girls who walk the school’s halls every day are going to play NCAA volleyball. The girls’ appreciation and love for the sport have brought them a long way. “I love that everybody has to work together to score points, and it’s not necessarily one person,” Buckley said. With teams of six players on each side and a maximum of three hits per side, there are many moving parts and strategies to make a strong volleyball team. Equally important to skill, however, is the bond between players. “Being competitive together throughout the season, learning more about each other, working together and just having fun and being around the girls is what makes this sport fun,” O’Sullivan said. The girls have grown up playing volleyball, O’Sullivan starting in sixth grade and Buckley in fourth. Since then, both girls have also played year-round to get more experience on the court. They play
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for Club Fusion Volleyball when not in season at Kaneland, and this is where colleges took notice of their skills the most. “Mainly through our club when we go to tournaments, there are coaches watching and they can contact us. We will email a bunch of them, and our coaches will help us from there, like making recruiting videos to send to the coaches. Then you can set up visits to colleges,” Buckley said. Once it’s fall and time for Kaneland’s volleyball season, it’s also time for the girls’ focus to shift to the school’s team, and they are eager to do as well as possible this year. Led by head coach Cynthia Violett, they work hard after school every day to be the best they can be. A typical practice consists of drills, conditioning and scrimmages. Outside of practice, the team also puts in time for team bonding. “We did a ropes course together, which was zip lining and rock climbing stuff. We all got on a bus together to do that. We have an annual car wash fundraiser, and during the season we tend to have team dinners once a week,” Buckley said. Buckley and O’Sullivan know how important it is to have a strong team connection. Everybody needs to be on the same page with each other in order to succeed. Communication while playing and being supportive of one another are big parts of thriving as a team. “[Buckley and O’Sullivan] are great leaders. They always try to push others to do better by being their biggest cheerleaders, whether they are on the bench or not,” Violett said. “They could easily come in [to practice] and not try, but they come in and have goals to take the team
Photo by Kyra Motyka
Senior Madison Buckley warms up in hitting lines before a game. The Knights will next take the court tonight against LaSalle-Peru High School.
to State.” Outside of volleyball, both girls also have additional hobbies and responsibilities. O’Sullivan likes to bake and work at her restaurant job as a waitress. Buckley also bakes and likes to craft in her free time. Next year, O’Sullivan is thinking about going into business at GVSU, and Buckley wants to go into interior design at Ball State. One of the girls’ favorite memories from playing volleyball at Kaneland was a game against Morris during their junior year. It was a very competitive game because of how good each team was, and it was a test to the girls on how to handle the pressure. “There was a lot of smack talk across the net, and I love that stuff. We were just going at it with each other,” Buckley said. O’Sullivan also remembers having fun because of the intensity of this game. “One of the players started blowing kisses at us through the net, so we were doing it back at them. So because of that, we had a lot of fun even under the pressure of competition,” O’Sullivan said. The girls won that game and plan on keeping that same ambition going into this year’s season. As of our press deadline, the Knights are 16-1 overall, and Buckley and O’Sullivan plan to do all they can to contribute to a successful postseason while getting ready for the next step in their volleyball careers.
Page design by Braden Babka
