Student Council Hosts Boys Volleyball Game

The moment so many have been waiting for at Champaign Central has finally come: the chance for boys to play volleyball outside of P.E! April 6th, 2022 was the day the free boys volleyball game was held in the North Gym.

Student Council President Adele Miller explained that they decided to put on this event “as another way for upperclassmen to have fun since they have missed out on so much,” no doubt due to the pandemic. Miller also mentioned, “it serves as a fundraiser for Student Council to support our future events,” with their Student Council t-shirts and concessions that were available next to the entrance of the gym. Laid out for students to enjoy were soda, water, gatorade, candy, and chips.

The bleachers were filled with students and parents wearing either blue in support of the Seniors wearing blue 22 jerseys, or pink showing support for the Juniors in pink 23 jerseys. After a couple of intense rounds of spiking practice, the Seniors’ team of 18 and Juniors’ team of 14 took their sides with the former on the audience’s left and the latter on the right. All the players would have the chance to play with rotations.

The first set was fierce with both teams neck and neck as the crowd warmed their cheering voices. As the game began, sophomore Jaylee Elsts said, “I think there’s a clear winner: the Juniors… I'm voting for Meg [Rossow] as a coach.” Another volleyball supporter, Jake Crawmer, said, “I’m rooting for the Seniors because they're more experienced.” The Seniors managed to take the first set with a 2 point lead (25:23).

The second set had the most aggressive cheering from the stands with the Seniors’ chance to take the game in two sets. Halfway through the game, Evelyn Schuchart (who had an older sibling in the game) observed: “Seniors hit straight up a lot. They’re pretty good at serving: the Juniors. It’s not very consistent though, you know.” Sarah McKendall, another person in the stands, also noted: “I think the Juniors’ weakness is their communication. They keep letting it (the ball) drop.” Yet the Juniors had managed to win this set with a whopping 10 point lead (15:25).

The smaller Senior support did not lose heart going into the final set. Long and nerve-wracking rallies between the teams had everyone in the stands on their feet; the ball tried its best to find the floor. This set had decided the winner of the game: the Seniors! It was a 15-point set but the game had hit a deuce, completing with a 21:18 score. The Seniors were elated to win.

Shaffer Bauer, a player on the Seniors’ side, offered some thoughts on the game: “It was amazing. We won the first set, but we lost the second, and then we had a come-back for the third set… I really wanted to win, but I don’t know if I 100% thought I was gonna win… We have good serves, and our setters are great to set up our spikers to hit the ball down and score points. So, really solid all around.”

Bauer also said that the support was amazing: “I think we had a lot of students that supported us in the stands and parents that game. It was a good fundraiser as well.”

It was a great event hosted by Central’s Student Council!