MORGANTOWN—In volleyball, a small number of seniors on a team is typical. A program may see classes of one to three players in a year, maybe four in some cases.
For Trinity Christian (22-10-1) and head coach Anna Witt, a 2025 senior class of six girls leads the line high on the hill in Sabraton.
The six TCS seniors are Jillian Benn, Lydia Knight, Arlie Humphries, Rylan Sharp, Luciana Citerone, and Emma Jenkins.
On a team that doesn’t include a junior on the current roster, Witt says her six seniors have helped push their younger teammates over the hump when called upon on the court while also being great role models outside of the game.
Such was the case Thursday night against visiting Notre Dame (17-6) on Senior Night as the Warriors defended their home court with a 3-1 victory (25-13, 20-25, 25-20, 25-21) on the shoulders of the upperclassmen.
“We came out hot in the first set,” Witt said. “Our seniors were playing well. They realized it was their senior night and wanted to put on a show for a great crowd. Then, we started giving away points with some unforced errors and becoming complacent, which led to dropping the second set.”
Witt says she then pulled her senior captains aside and told them they needed to be the ones to motivate their team to win if they wanted their Senior Night to end positively.
“Their leadership is truly make or break for our team’s success,” she said. “Even if they aren’t playing their best, when they are communicating well and have a great attitude, those things show and trickle down among the team.”
After dropping the second set to the Lady Irish, the Warriors rebounded and won a hard-fought third set they trailed 15-13 at one point.
They carried that momentum into the fourth set, jumping out to a commanding 9-2 lead. Notre Dame eventually battled back to tie the set at 19-all, but the Warriors slammed the door on the Lady Irish comeback bid and won the fourth set 25-21 to close out the contest.
To be able to win on the back of the seniors on their special night is something Witt says is priceless.
“For them to go out there and continuously give it their all means so much to me,” Witt says. “These girls play every game like it could be their last, leaving it all out on the court. We don’t have any juniors on this team, so the example they set for the younger girls now will be continued into the future of the program, which is one we see being bright at Trinity Christian.”
While it’s important to make their mark on the future of the volleyball program at TCS, the task at hand in 2024 is still at the forefront of the Warriors’ minds. Witt says a win like the one they earned on Thursday goes a long way heading into the final week of the regular season.
“We knew coming in that this game wouldn’t be a rollover or easy by any means,” she said. “For us to come out and win 3-1 gets us excited and ready for the last week of the regular season. Confidence needs to be at an all-time high at this point in the year.”
The Warriors will enjoy the weekend off before returning home on Monday for an OVAC 1A-3A tournament consolation round matchup.
