This year, the seventh and eighth-grade students were given the opportunity to participate in a volleyball tournament around the school. Students in grades 7 and 8 could create their own teams and team names. The students were allowed up to six students on each team but were later changed to seven. You can have up to six students on the court at a time and can rotate people. 

All seventh and eighth students were encouraged to play in it and the winners were awarded a championship volleyball tournament trophy. The runner-ups were given ribbons as well. 

“Hosting the volleyball tournament ended up being a lot of fun and the students really enjoyed it.  I will definitely be doing another tournament for the 7th & 8th  graders and they’re already talking about it and maybe thinking about having a couple more,” said Mrs. Tami Smithmyer, seventh and eighth-grade physical education teacher.

 The two championship teams were the Kanye Search team which consisted of Mason O’Donnell, Will Kumrow, Brayden Reynolds,  Anthony Taddeo, Ben Glass, Paul Ribellia, and Charles Powell, who were able to bring home the victory of the very first volleyball tournament. The second-place team was known as the Carter Brown Team, and they consisted of Nick Fessler, Carter Brown, Ethan Wynn, Anthony Tusick, Michael Frasure, and Kyle Speicher. 

Both teams put up an impressive fight, but in the end, the Kanye Search team took home the win and was able to get the trophies. 

Mrs. Smithmyer was in charge of the tournament and made sure all of the plays and rules were fair. She also helped keep everyone on track and to make sure everyone played fairly. 

“During PSSA testing as a reward we might have a basketball tournament, a hockey tournament, and another volleyball tournament,” said Mrs. Smithmyer.

On the side, there were also people filming and keeping score of the games to help out Mrs. Smithmyer with some of the work. Alec Lockwood was the official scorekeeper of the tournament and did a good job keeping score.