Jaden Dougal '21 Recruiting Profile

Junior season. This was the time to show up and show out. It was my second year as the 5-1 setter on varsity and I was more than ready to have a killer season with the seniors I have played with for three years. Coming into the season I was hungry to have a great year, starting with two-a-days all the way to playoffs.

Unfortunately, God had a different plan for our team.  With a new coach this season, things did not go so smoothly in the beginning and our mental strength was tested on a daily basis. We were yelled at for everything we did wrong and sometimes even insulted for our inability to accomplish certain skills. We grew weary quickly and knew something had to change.  It was only September and district play hadn't even started yet, so we banded together and held a team meeting with our coach ourselves. Thankfully, he was receptive and took it extremely well. We explained how we understood that yelling and intensity were good, but the insults and putting us down wasn't okay. From that moment on, with work from both sides, we cultivated a really good team-coach relationship.

Our coach gave us three goals for the season and told us that we were going to work every single day towards these goals. 1) We were going to beat our cross-town rivals. 2) We were going to win a playoff warm-up match against a super competitive team the game day after our rivals. 3) We were going to make it past the third round of State Championship Playoffs, further than any volleyball team in the history of our school has gone. We worked day in and day out, bonding as a team over hard practices, completing drills where we finally succeeded after many attempts, and focusing on accomplishing the three goals. The night of our rival game, at their gym, we won in five sets!  It was a killer night with every single emotion and ounce of effort left out on the court. The next game day, we won our warm-up match again in five sets, proving to ourselves and our coach that we were in for the fight and didn't mind playing extra sets for the sweet taste of victory.

Then we hit playoff season, easily beating our first round opponent in three sets.  Then we were up against our Round 2 opponent, who we had met twice before this season with them winning both times. However, we put their previous wins aside.  It was a new game for a new purpose and frankly, we were a new team. We played our hearts out that night; leaving everything on the court and not caring what happened the point before or what could happen the point after. I remember the very last point of the game.  It was the third set, we had 24 points and they had 23. We were serving and had just come back from being down 21-23. I was in the front row and glanced at my hitters next to me. I remember not having a doubt in my mind that we would win. I knew that every girl on my team was willing to give every last ounce of effort for this ball and for this win. I set the middle, seeing that their left side had already begun to cheat to the outside, but we didn't have the best connection. They dug it easily, set their outside, who hit sharp cross to our outside, who then dug it in return. Technically, it wasn't the best dig, as she dug it over the net to their right back. However, for us, it was the perfect dig, as their setter had cheated, leaving right-back wide open for that final dig to land, securing our victory.

We went on to play the third round of the state tournament, but ultimately, we lost that round and our quest ended.  However, that didn't tarnish the amazing season we had. We overcame so many obstacles, starting from within our team, and ending doing more than we could ever have imagined.  Together, as a team, we were game for the fight.