Tuesday, Nov. 3 was the last time I played volleyball for the Milford Mavericks. Seniors Lexi Mcfall, Emily Lowe, Sydney Phipps and I put on our Maverick jerseys for the last time. We played Walled Lake Northern for the first round of districts and lost in three games, a disappointing finish after losing in barely losing the district championship the last year. 

We played at Walled Lake Central in a gym where in my two years on the varsity team at Milford has never won a game. I knew what was at stake the whole day and I couldn’t stop thinking about it. It was a feeling of I couldn’t wait to play, but I also knew there might be a chance that I never put the jersey back on. I’m sorry to say I really didn’t pay attention in my classes because of it.

As my teammate Emily Lowe describes, “ I knew it could potentially be our last game and I just didn’t want to go out playing badly. I couldn’t play badly for myself and for the team because we’ve both worked so hard.”

Our bus left at 5 p.m. on Tuesday rather than our normal 2:30 for a normal conference game. So at 4:30, I arrived at the school and helped Lexi’s mom set up our food. We had Blue Grill Mediterranean food, like usual with a whole bag of goodies like goldfish and Oreos. Slowly but surely, the rest of the team waddled in and grabbed their bag of food while laying in front of the Milford Pools and Fitness entrance. We spread out, waiting for the bus and just talked about our day.

“I didn’t really think about anything,”Lexi McFall our senior caption stated. “The only real thought I had is there is no way that we’re losing.”

When the bus arrived, we slowly got up, gathered all our bags, and found our seat on the bus. I always have the back single seat in the bus. I think it’s the best seat because I can stretch out my legs all the way and they can overflow into the aisle and no one cares. For once, I’m in the conversation that they’re carrying on from the sidewalk, instead of putting my earbuds in and listening to music. After a 21 minute drive that seemed like an hour, we arrive.

As we walk into the gym, it’s quiet, but I see that we are the last to arrive to the party. The Central team has already come in, set up the net, and finished their practice since they play on Thursday. Northern, who we’re playing is already started to warm up. It was terrifying to walk into that situation. I can honestly say I’ve never been more nervous before a volleyball game than before the Northern.  

See Part II of this story on Monday, Nov. 14