This year, our high school leadership council brought back the post-basketball volleyball games. The last time we had one of these volleyball tournaments was in 2019, when the current seniors were freshmen. This tournament was a fun time for everyone involved. People were able to play cornhole, eat pizza, and watch or play their classmates in volleyball!

After the basketball game on December 9th, our volleyball tournament consisted of 8 teams made up of all different grades. In the end, the previously undefeated team, D3 Commits (Nick H, Paul L, Marius R, Brody R, Colton M, Andy S, and Jackson C) lost the tournament to the Snow Bunnies (Keegan F, Zach N, Blake M, Jayce K, Brian M, and Crew C).

The next tournament will be on January 20th, and Katie Veling, who is a part of the committee and played at the last tournament, said more people should come to this one because “many people have doubts about participating because they don’t want to look dumb, but in reality, no one cares if your team isn’t full of all stars. As long as you show up and surround yourself with people who you can laugh with, you’ll have a good time.”

Brooke Bacon, who went to the last tournament to watch her peers, said people should go to these tournaments: “Seriously, get out of your bed, pause your Clash of Clans game, and bring your Lodi Pride with you to the gym because it’s high school, and you won’t get these chances often.”

At these tournaments, you can have a great experience. Rachel Winters, who watched the tournament, said that her favorite thing was “to see the different team names and uniforms. Also, watching teams argue over line calls was entertaining.”

Emma Bahr, who played, said that the best part of playing was “being with friends and getting excited about scoring.” If this doesn’t make you want to play next time, I don’t know what will.