From Oct.10-12, the Taipei American School girls volleyball team retrieved the gold medal for the first time since 2008. The girls went undefeated with a record of six wins and no losses, dominating at the Super Interscholastic Association of Southeast Asian Schools tournament held at the International School of Manila.
Despite losing to Singapore American School last year, the girls had excellent defense and aggressive attacks, winning in all three sets against SAS in the finals this year. “Although there were times when we fell behind, fighting and remembering how much we wanted this for each other and remembering our strengths is what pull[ed] us back into the lead,” Sarah J. (‘21), All-Tournament, said.
During the last game against SAS, the girls started off strong with a two set lead and later won the last set. “We all talked to each other and reminded one another to breathe [in the last game]. We became unified and worked harder as a whole once we found our reason for wanting gold,” Sarah said.
The unity and teamwork that the girls executed were key to them winning the championship title this year. “Our captains made sure we stayed calm and ke[pt] the same energy level of playing. [We] also kept the words of Coach Fillbach and Coach Tan in mind to ‘control what you can control’,” Catrina Y. (‘23) said.
However, despite their win, the girls still believe that there is always room for improvement. “I think the one thing [that] we can improve on is to continue unit[ing] th[e] team and creat[ing] a sisterhood.” Sarah said.
