On October 10th, 2023 the Green Level Gators faced the Middle Creek Mustangs in a highly anticipated matchup. The last time these two teams met the Mustangs secured a 3-1 win over the Gators. It was senior night for Green Level; the seniors include Asia Thigpen, Tristan Holt, Pranavi Bollenini, Ellie Naemura, and Hannah Eisenman. I asked Sr. Asia Thigpen how she felt going into senior night against Middle Creek. She said, “It was a fun but really sad moment for all the seniors. We loved getting to play a great team but it was super sad to think that it could be the last time playing in our gym.” The Mustangs were fighting to win the SWAC conference title.
The energy was electric to start the game. You could tell how much this game meant to both of these teams to start the night. The Gators came out the gates swinging in the first set playing with high energy and lots of power. Winning the first two sets the Gators looked like an unstoppable force. After these two sets you could see the Mustangs energy pick up and they started to execute play after play at the beginning of the third set. The Mustangs leader, Sally Perez, landed some huge hits and brought her team back to tie the sets 2-2. The final set starts and the Mustangs start on fire executing some major hits. The lead became too much and out of reach for the Gators. Middle Creek came up with a big win over Green Level to win the SWAC conference title.
Green Level has a special team that has a great chance to make a run for states this year. They have big goals and a lot to play for so I asked Sr. Pranavi Bollenini, how are you going to use this game as motivation heading into the playoffs? She responded with, “We’re gonna use this game as a learning lesson to tweak a couple of things during practice. It really was a reality check and having all the cool stuff like the jumbotron and Rob is fun but at the end of the day we need to execute. It really made us remember why we are here, which is to play together as a team and win for Reese.” The Gators are a team to look out for in the playoffs this year and are looking forward to making another run to win Green Level’s second volleyball state championship.
