Muncie - Wapahani volleyball began their warmups tonight in warm-up shirts that read “Don’t Be Satisfied”. The team embodied that message and competed last night with an unsatisfied mentality.

Senior Sophia Beeson came up with the saying this offseason and encouraged the team throughout their training with that quote.

“To me, it means never being satisfied with the level you’re competing at right now,” she said, “Never be complacent and always want to be better. We embody that persona and always look to make plays better than the last one.”

The Delta Eagles fell to that unsatisfied Wapahani team last night in the 2024 season opener in 5 sets. Wapahani got off to a hot start taking the first two sets from the blue and gold. Beeson felt a rush before the first serve and throughout the first set.

“We were literally so excited leading up to this game,” Beeson said. “This is exactly what we prepared for and we have been getting ready for all summer. We were just so high on adrenaline and the atmosphere here tonight got us going early.”

Squaring off with a Delaware County foe on opening night made for an interesting match-up. Most of the girls spent the offseason training together and some play for the same club teams.

“I think we do see this as a rivalry game,” Beeson said. “I think we see it like that because we intermix a lot in the offseason. We always want to beat up on them when we can, similar to other area schools.”

Wapahani’s solid start came at the expense of a sluggish opening for Delta. Eagles head coach Kylie Johnson felt like her team was asleep for the first two sets of the match.

“I don’t think we even started playing until the last 10 points in the third [set],” Johnson said. “My words to them after the second was that we have got to start playing sooner and get our heads into it sooner.”

After taking the third set, Johnson felt her team took some momentum with them and ran with it in the fourth.

“It was an aggressive huddle but we had the momentum and we needed to use it and start playing at a higher level,” she said. “Once we got there, I told them we needed to stay and not let up. We need to start games that way.”

Even after winning their season opener, Wapahani head coach Valorie Wells was unsatisfied with her team's performance. She referenced their motto and recognized they have more to work on even after the win.

“We really try to remember and know that win or lose, we can’t be satisfied with our work,” she said. “Like tonight, great win, but we cannot be satisfied because there is still a lot of work to do. I just hope our team keeps that in mind throughout the practices and games this season.”

Taking two sets and then dropping two could be an issue in a match. However, the Raiders did that tonight and still were able to secure their victory.

“I kept telling them to stay together and be good teammates no matter what. We got kind of selfish at times and I feel like that cost us those two sets,” Wells said. “We were making too many errors and got frazzled within ourselves. I kept reminding them to stay together and play as one and that got us through the fifth set.”

Even with a loss, the young Delta squad – which includes four freshmen and three sophomores – took a lot of lessons away from the game.

“We have sweet kids on our team and they tend to be timid. Part of being a freshman is not wanting to mess up and that kind of leads to the tendency of making errors,” Johnson said. “I want them to learn that they need to take charge and just make plays. If we can do that they won’t make as many errors and that will take care of itself. They have made leaps and bounds though already and I am proud of their growth.”

Senior Addie Phillippe led Delta with 18 kills, junior Maddie Grove followed with 14 and senior Brylie Tuttle led the team with 14 digs.

Wapahani will stay on the road and play Lapel for their next game on Thursday, August 22 at 7 p.m. while Delta will stay at home playing Jay County on the same night at the same time.

Contact Logan Connor at email logan.connor@bsu.edu or on X at @_loganconnor

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