Fired up for their first home game, the Varsity Volleyball team faced off against the Vista Ridge Rangers in a fierce battle on Tuesday Sept. 2. Each set was very close, with both teams using quick offensive tactics. However despite their speedy plays, the Lady Warriors fell short. The final score of the game was 0-3. 

“[before this game] we had three tournaments in the first three weeks of school,” Captain Grace McCluskey ‘26 said. “So we were [prepared], it’s just all muscle memory and just [applying] your [volleyball] IQ.”

Swiftly starting the game with a bang, Caroline Miller ‘28 scored the first point of the game with a clean block off a fierce Ranger hit. Shortly after, Dakota Hodge ‘26, Miller, and Emily Xue ‘27 worked together to block another hit from Vista Ridge’s side of the net. Westwood’s blocks proved to be the backbone to their momentum throughout the game. The first period was extremely tight, both teams within just a few points of each other. Despite the Warriors stellar defense, they came in just 5 points short. The final score of the first set was 20-25.

“The best part about defense is that it’s so much more than just the physical part of the game,” Avnee Upadhye ‘27 said. “[Defense] brings a lot of energy into the mental part of the game, so it’s really just the foundation of the sport.”

During the start of the second set, Vista Ridge swung many aggressive attacks towards Westwood. Upadhye prevented them from getting easy points by diving and working for many loose balls in the backcourt. Leading the charge, McCluskey had back to back kills helping Westwood advance their lead. Quickly Vista Ridge brought their momentum back into the game to take back their lead after Westwood held it for the first half of the set. This set was even closer than the first, however the Warriors fell just two points short. The final score of the second set was 23-25. 

“If it’s not a great set, we try to put it on the court and trust our defense to play around their ball,” McCluskey said. “All I think about [when we are down in a game] is making the plays better and always improving our team.”

Determined to come back, the Lady Warriors started the third set with high intensity, leading by 4 in just the first few minutes. The Rangers didn’t let this lead hold long, they quickly stole back the momentum as the second half of the set began. During the match, Sriya Chakravarthy ‘27, Emma Waghorne ‘27, and McCulskey worked efficiently together to block many of Vista Ridge’s intense hits. The Rangers, resilient, continued to mix up the placement of their hits; eventually tying Westwood into a bind, unable to track their kills. With this uncertainty and miscommunication, the Warriors came up short with a final score of 19-25.

 “[If you are losing a point or set] just forget about if you keep focusing on the present, if you dwindle on the past you’ll never move forward and will lose confidence,” McCluskey said.

Despite their loss, the Lady Warriors will return to the court ready to face Weiss in a tough battle on their home court on Friday Sept. 9.

“I thought it was a very flat game on and off the court,” Dakota Hodge ‘26 said. “I do believe we have it in us to bounce back and win our next game.” 

Number 1: Fusion
In first place comes Fusion, a pop of color and one of the most detailed and content filled yearbooks. The creators, Jenny Xu and Emily Lu efficiently showed each and every student’s unique experience at Westwood. This yearbook is like eye candy! There’s not one as colorful or eye-catching as Fusion. Moreover, it encapsulates the culture in 2019 like how Bob’s Burgers, Brooklyn Ninety, and Young Sheldon were one of the most popular shows at the time. The pictures are dramatically and sharply captured pulling in the reader and, to top it, all of the theme is unique and combines all the different facades of Westwood.

Number 2: Every Little Thing
In second place we have Every Little Thing, which encapsulates many emotional memories. This yearbook focuses more on content than the aesthetic of the book. Which I felt like made it really stand out compared to other books. Daphne Longenbach and Amelia Spielman put their sweat and tears into making sure this yearbook was going to move others. Even when this yearbook is based on details of people at Westwood, the aesthetic did not fail at all either. Mods pop out to your eyes and never fail to draw you in.

Number 3: The Heritage 1982
Third place goes to the Heritage yearbook from 1982, which is the first Westwood yearbook ever created. The list wouldn’t be complete without this yearbook because it is the start of all collections of Westwood memories. This yearbook also holds a lot of comedic moments and is sure to give you a laugh if you ever get to read it. With it being a yearbook from the 80’s it would be presumable that it is in all black and white, but surprisingly, many pages are colored! It’s also just super interesting to go back to old yearbooks and see how people from different times dressed and used their vocabulary.

Number 4: Outlines
Fourth place in this ranking goes to Outlines from 2009. This yearbook is the first yearbook in all Westwood history to be in complete color. All the yearbooks beforehand had a mix of both black and white, but we felt this book would be influential to put on this ranking because of its iconic stance of being the first yearbook in full color. This was definitely more of a big deal back then compared to now, but we still appreciate that Westwood worked very hard to make sure this was the first yearbook in complete color.

Number 5: Vision
Fifth place in this list goes to Vision from 2020. The concept of this yearbook was very interesting. The editors of the yearbook came up with the idea to make the pictures almost blurry, but provide blue and red glasses inside the yearbook to wear whenever you look at the photos, which made them clear. Although it is a cool concept, it’s hard not to cringe whenever you see the images and to some people, the point could be hard to get across that you have to wear the glasses when looking at the photos. The color scheme of the photos was a red and bluish green, which was interesting though. Although the concept is very cool, the vibes of this yearbook are just overall sometimes cringe which is the reason it’s at the bottom of this list.

From the toss up, Chloe Hall ‘27 started the Warriors off right, quickly placing the Warriors on the board and throwing the Hippos on their back foot. Throughout the first quarter, Hutto maintained a two point deficit, behind Westwood in a showcase of skills from either team. With Hutto so close behind, the crowd and coaches cheered for the Warriors to pick up the pace and  keep up the hustle. Soon, continuing the back and forth in points, the first quarter ended 12-10 with the Warriors barely in the lead.

“I felt really excited going into the game because they were playing some really hype music and I was just ready to run and take the ball,” Brynley Fell ‘27 said.

Tightening down the defense, the Warriors started the second quarter shutting down the Hippos and increasing their tempo. Soon, this playstyle doubled the Warriors’ original score within a matter of five minutes, while Hutto lagged behind. After a series of fouls, the Warriors earned a free throw, stirring up the opposing players. The final score for the first half ended 21-14.

“My favorite form of defense is definitely man to man,” Paige Price ‘27 said. “It’s where you stay on one person and you don’t let them get the ball basically. It’s simple and effective.”

Throughout the second half, things started to heat up as  Hutto began to pick up their aggression, scoring more points. To the Warriors, the situation seemed dire as Hutto was catching up, so the girls were trying their hardest to not let them get past their score by playing a tighter spread. In a combination of the increased tempo but tighter defense, the Warriors stayed up 25-21 in the final moments of the third quarter. As the coaches and crowd were on their toes as the time was ticking down in the final quarter, Hutto was still close behind, and the Warriors were afraid that they would make a final push at a comeback. A defining factor throughout the quarter, Maya Alas ‘27 drained a slew of shots that 

ultimately put the Warriors far ahead of the Hippos. During the quarter, Alas had two free-throw shots and another two pointer towards the end of the game. The final ending score for the game was 31-25. 

The JV girls will go head-to-head with the Round Rock Dragons on Tuesday, Dec. 31 for their seventh district game of the season.