Dig. Kill. Pancake. These were some of the techniques used on the court during middle school volleyball’s games this season. Though to non-volleyball players, a pancake is a breakfast food, to these players, it signifies a shot where the player needs to dive on the floor to pop a ball up with the back of their hand.

During the 2018 fall season, coaches split the middle school volleyball team into A and B teams, with both teams reaching the first round of playoffs. Throughout the season, both the A and B teams played schools such as Windward, Geffen Academy, Culver City Middle School and Brentwood Middle School.

The season finished with losses in the first round of playoffs, with the A-team playing Westside Neighborhood School and the B-team playing Calvary Christian. 

Even with the short season because of a late school start, eighth grader Uma Bajaj felt that she and her teammates were able to develop a strong bond.

“I think we worked really well as a team,” Bajaj said. “We definitely were very energetic.“

This season, the team was able to learn and practice through games.

“We had more games than practice, so most of practice time came from games which was kind of fun,” seventh grader Lilly Dembo said.

From those practices and games, Dembo, who also plays club volleyball, felt she was able to improve on her “passing skills and hitting.”

Even with the season ending with a cumulative score of 16 wins, certain games resulted in losses.  

“We played WNS, Westside Neighborhood School, and we were losing [18-24] … then we came [back to 23-25]… we still lost but even though it was their game we still came through,” eighth grader Uma Bajaj said about their first game against WNS. 

A loss for the B-team showed sixth grader Alejandra Cortes the importance of communicating and practice.

“I don’t know which game, but [that game] we weren’t on our A-game and we weren’t communicating like we were supposed to,” Cortes said. “We weren’t really putting the stuff that we worked on in practice in to the game.” 

For Cortes, the most memorable time in the season was their first win. The B-team had lost their first game but won the second, which exceeded Cortes’ expectations.

Many of the A-team’s games were filled with “a lot of great saves,” Bajaj said.

“I think we did well [this season],” Cortes said. “We grew as a team as the season went on and it was a little disappointing that we had to end when the season ended.”