The Norwin Boys Volleyball team had a mix of young and old this season. A strong senior class merged with a young freshmen-sophomore group in an attempt to make a playoff run. However, the Knights fell short of the playoffs this season. So far, their section record is 2-6 and overall record 5-10 and they sit at 5th in their division as of May 6th.
The Norwin Boys Volleyball team is saying farewell to the seniors playing their last few games in their high school careers.
“It’s hard knowing that after this season I will likely never play organized volleyball again, but I’m grateful for the opportunities I’ve had playing volleyball,” said senior John Olshanski.
Olsanski playing his last season, like many other seniors on the team, says he is still great full and having an optimistic attitude about the season and the group of people he got to share the court with.
“I think over the season we’ve become so much closer as a group, we play every game for each other and always have each other’s backs,” said Olshanski.
As the season progressed, the team grew more as a team and learned each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Over time, there was an overwhelming problem that the team had because of how young they were.
Unfortunately, the Knights lost their prime setter, sophomore Owen Fonzi in a early season practice with a knee injury.
“I think the biggest thing that slowed us down was a lack of experience. When Owen (Fonzi) went down, it really hurt us. It took us a while to get our setter situation down, and we had to adjust to multiple new setters over the course of the season,” said Olshanski.
Besides the different skills, some of the team plans on going out and testing their skill in the future. Ryan Doeen is going to college, where he can decide whether he wants to keep pursuing volleyball.
“After high school, I am attending Penn State Greater Allegheny to play soccer,” said Ryan Dooen.
Now the freshman, sophomores, and junior will take the spotlight in the next season with their great talents and potential.
“My advice for the underclassmen is to always play your hardest no matter the score because anything is possible,” said Dooen.
Overall, the Norwin Knights Volleyball team missed the playoffs, but it still does not compensate for the seniors who gave it their all for their last season as a Knight. For the underclassmen who will now start a new chapter for the Knights Volleyball, it is still sad to see the seniors leave.