October means National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and for Archer varsity volleyball that means the annual Wildcat Dig Pink Tournament hosted by Milken Community School.

On Thursday, Oct. 6, Archer faced off against various teams from across Los Angeles, including rivals Pacifica Christian and Milken.

The Panthers went undefeated for all five of their games and won first place overall. This is the third consecutive year Archer has won the tournament.

“We needed to start off strong,” co-captain Sophie Smyth ’17 said. “We all really wanted to defend our title.”

Smyth was named tournament MVP, an honor which Archer alumna Christian Luhnow ’16 won in 2015. Rachael Boehm ’18 and Clara Gasparetti ’17 made the all-tournament team.

“I think we’ve been really successful this year because we’ve done a lot of team bonding. We really trust each other, which is important on and off the court,” Gasparetti said. “We work hard, but we’re also enjoying ourselves.”

The team, coached by Jonathan Lotz and Lainey Gera, remains undefeated and has an 8-0 overall record.

“[At the tournament] our team played the best volleyball we ever have,” Smyth said. “It really made us see how good we can be this season, and we are going to carry that [into] CIFs.”

A few days later on Saturday, Oct. 8, Archer again took on Pacifica Christian at Palisades Charter High School. The Panthers dominated and won 3-0 (25-14, 25-15, 25-13).

Archer will play Milken again on Monday, Oct. 10.