The Great Bend Panther Girls Volleyball team season came to end this weekend when they played their last game. With the 18-16 seasons they had a good season. After the amazing win they had against Garden City that the Panthers have not beaten in 10 years, it was a great way to start their season. The head coach of this team is Shelly Duvall along with her assistants Coach Barkow, Coach Kasselman, and Coach Jonas. 

After  interviewing a Junior named Valarie Luna, I was able to ask her some more questions. When I asked her how she will take control when she becomes a leader of the team by being a senior she said “Next year the rest of the seniors and I are going to make sure they reach the expectations and goals they have since we know what it takes to be a great bend volleyball panther…” I also asked her about the seniors who will be leaving and she stated “The 2021 seniors will be missed by everyone. They all wanted us to give 101% everyday and they did play a big role for our varsity team and experiencing their last high school volleyball game was such a heartbreak. They knew how to be leaders”. Val personally thinks that they had their ups and down during the season but they found a way to come back stronger and even more efficient. When I asked her her thoughts on ranking she said “ I personally think ranking is just a number because no one saw the effort and time put in to everyday practices.”  I also asked about her thoughts behind her personal and I got the amazing response of “I personally expressed myse;f this season but I’m not surprised, I put my time and effort to get the results I wanted and I definitely think this season showed off my hustle for the sport”.

I also interviewed another junior named Rylie Duvall, here are some of the replies I got to know a little more about last year’s season along with predictions for next year. I asked how she felt about the team ranking and she replied with “I think that the ranking in state isn’t super important. Do I still feel as though we could have been higher yes, do I think we could have had a different outcome? I do. But what some people don’t know is that we got records through many different obstacles. Whether that be  sickness, injuries, or just things going on outside of volleyball. We finished over 500 (more wins than losses) which is huge”. If you look down below, you are able to see the chart that holds these two individuals stats and the team as a whole. 

Overall, the Volleyball season has had a good season and is already building excitement for next year’s season. They had a percent of 53 for the win ratio. Their rankings include number 5142 in the nation, number 127 in Kansas, and number 22 in the Kansas 5A Class.