Rookie seventh-grader Carrillo leads Los Amigos on a successful journey
By Adolfo Sanchez
Los Amigos Staff
The 2022 volleyball season was hard, but also successful for the Los Amigos Dragons girls’ teams. Volleyball has become one of the most popular sports at Los Amigos. This season there were more than 90 girls who tried out for the volleyball teams, but only 24 made the final teams.
This season was unique and had its share of bumps on the way. Within our first few weeks of practice, several players were injured and had to miss many matches.
As the situation didn't look promising, there were players that stood up for the team and encourage each other while their teammates recover. In the team there was a player who caught my eye since tryouts, her mobility on the court, determination, and positive attitude made the decision to pick her as team captain or “La Capitana,” as players referred to her, easy.
Zaydie Carrillo was one of our 6th/7th team captain. Even when it was her first year on the volleyball team she showed the maturity and determination needed to be the captain and lead the team through a successful journey.
Zaydie had the determination to always come to practice and work hard on the court. She was very consistent which led her to improve and develop her skills to a point of being an important player in every match. Remarkable aspects of her game were: sliding on the floor, diving for the ball, and accurately serving on every game. Furthermore, she was always listening and learning which earned her the title of “Los Amigos MVP.”
As a coach it was hard to pick an MVP since there were few students who were great, but it became easier when all her teammates acknowledged and agreed that she deserved the MVP.
A very important quality of a strong team is the students’ ability to connect and recognize each other’s work while pursuing the main goal of becoming champions.
The Los Amigos girls had a personal school record of seven wins for both teams. The 6th/7th and 8th girls teams both had a 7-0 record this season. We knew that it would become harder in the playoffs as everyone will want to beat us.
The 8th grade team’s semifinals was one of the most dramatic and outstanding matches. Cactus’ 8th grade girls demonstrated an amazing improvement which helped them to beat us on the first set. They were setting and spiking balls that were unreachable for our players. It was shocking for us, because we were undefeated and had already beat them once. The team shook it off and we were able to win the second set by a few points. We started the third set winning, but one of the Cactus players serves were the determining factor that guaranteed them the third set, and the match victory
Losing one of our teams in the semifinals was very hard, but Dragons always rise even stronger than before when facing adversity. The 6th/7th team faced DGM on an amazing final match. Los Amigos knew that it faced an amazing team that had spikers, and couple servers that could serve for an entire game with accuracy and force. But, the Dragons rose to the level and demonstrated to be the very best. Both sets were close and intense, but at the end of the day, Los Amigos was able to take the championship home and received the precious trophy rewarding the team for its hard wok, dedication, and determination.
It is an enormous satisfaction to see that every year Los Amigos volleyball family grows in numbers. After four years of lifting the trophy, players have been identifying themselves with the team and what it represents. They know that wearing the purple jersey represent commitment, dedication, and responsibility. It is a pleasure to see players from previous years come to our games to support our team.
A fundamental part of the family is the Dragon mascot. It is joyful to see not only younger kids saying hi or taking pictures with the mascot, but parents as well. Our mascot not only represent us, but it helps us to cheer up the crowd that motivates the team.