The final volleyball game between the Warren Central Lady Vikes and Germantown was the most intense of the night. Both sides served hard and matched the effort on the other side of the net.

Warren Central played the cleanest in this game compared to the previous two and played better as a team. Both sides were tied up through 8 points and Warren Central closed the gap to tie again at 14 points each, but they just couldn’t hold on losing all three games.

“That’s probably one of the best teams from central Mississippi,” said head coach Matt Gullett. “I’ve got to expose the girls to that though because that’s what we’re going to see from these good teams down the road.”

In the last week, Warren Central worked on defense at the net and most of their points came that way. Coaches were proud the one thing they’ve worked on in practice wasn’t in vain.

Gullett wants to play the type of opponent Germantown proved to be. Teams who are consistently in the playoffs, challenges the team to help prepare and help them get better.

Seniors Frida Garcia, Carisha London and Jereka Willis showed a lot of heart and hunger on the court Thursday evening.

Garcia returned and served the ball well to pick up momentum in the game keeping plays alive.

London had high-energy plays all evening; winning points, protecting the net and serving the ball well. She showed gritty defense at the net during the longest rally of the first game, which carried over to another point saving play in the second game with help from teammate Kayla Mayfield. However, her strength got the best of her at times and let a potential point off a spike get away from her as the ball bounced out of bounds.

“Carisha, I played a little bit of everywhere tonight. This is her first full year on varsity. Her athleticism is just amazing. She’s a great teammate and the girls love playing with her,” Gullet said.

Gullett said Willis has played wonderful ball this season with the lowest amount of errors on the team. Willis is becoming one of his more solid, reliable players.

Willis was a bit timid in the first game and didn’t attack the ball as much. She said her nervous got to her but she calmed down and realized how Germantown was playing their game.

Although Willis took some time to get her game going, she had a positive attitude on how well the team played.

“Communication was better, the serves were consistent, we played as a team and we picked each other up when we were feeling down.”