The Lampeter-Strasburg Girls Volleyball celebrated their annual Dig Pink Night last Tuesday, October 3 to honor breast cancer awareness month. Dig Pink Night is held in the High School gym and grand hallway to raise money for breast cancer awareness. The event consists of a raffle, both a JV and Varsity game, and, of course, lots of pink.
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| Welcome to Dig Pink Night decorations set up outside the gym |
The Dig Pink Rally is held through an organization called the Side-Out Foundation, which raises money through volleyball games and events for breast cancer research and support. On side-out.org they state, “ In volleyball, “side-out” means regaining control of the ball. Similarly, The Side-Out Foundation helps people with breast cancer regain control of their lives.” Through the raffle and the sale of pink volleyball bracelets, cookies, t-shirts, and pens, L-S raises money to send to the Side-Out Foundation. Additionally Saul Cohen, father to two senior players, Emma and Becca Cohen, stated on game night, “We partner with side-out.org to hold a game every year for breast cancer awareness month in October. We also raise money to benefit friends and family members who have been directly affected.”
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| Spectators could buy raffle tickets to win a wide variety of prizes, all donated by friends and family of L-S Volleyball. The money raised from the raffle tickets goes to breast cancer. |
The night kicked off with the JV game, where they sadly lost 2-0, but they put up a persistent fight. Throughout both matches, strong saves were made by Lily Hoke, backing up her team, and Eliana Olinger exemplified solid passes throughout both matches to keep the team on track. Ephrata won the first match 25-23.
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JV takes the court, donned with pink jerseys for the event.
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| Lily Hoke tips the ball over the net. |
Near the end of the second match, the gym was overflowing with excitement at the prospect of L-S winning the match. A little behind, L-S pulls through and ties the game 23-23, the stands and players cheering wildly. Amazing serving by Breanna Fluhr puts L-S in the lead, 24-23. Ephrata, fighting back hard, ties the score again at 24-24. With a powerful spike by Fabi
Rodriguez, L-S gets in the lead 25-24.
Again, Ephrata takes the score up to 25-25, and with two crazy powerful spikes by Ephrata, L-S loses the second match 25-27. The varsity team took the court next, hoping for a win. Unfortunately they walked away with a loss of 3-0. But that didn’t stop the spirit of the players or the crowd.
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| The LS student section wore pink to support Dig Pink Night. |
In the first varsity match, things were heated. Ephrata had many hard hits, resulting in many harsh dives by L-S in attempts to save them. Hailey Hoover had an abundance of amazing tips and spikes, scattered throughout the game. The main highlight of this game however, was Abbie Powell’s spectacular serving. Powell scored 7 points on Ephrata, an amazing feat, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough to stop Ephrata winning 25-22.
At the start of the second match, L-S had several great tips by Hailey Hoover and Betsy Brenneman, tying the score at 5-5. Ephrata pulled ahead however with a few hard spikes, making the score 9-5. After, a few soft hits back and forth Abbie Powell takes the serving position and amazes the crowd again. Ephrata shows fruitless attempts to return Powell’s serve, allowing her to take her team from 11-13 to 16-13. Sadly, Ephrata, with a few tricky tips, is able to pull ahead and take the score to 21-17. Hailey Hildenbrand and Hailey Hoover try and save their team with spikes as hard as they can muster, but fail. Ephrata wins the second match 25-19.
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| L-S exemplifies amazing teamwork in an attempt to save the game. |
The crowd and players get excited at the start of the third match, hoping for a win. If L-S wins this match, they will continue to play. If not, game over.
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| Betsy Brenneman spikes the ball over the net, Ephrata failing to block it. |
The game starts off rough, Ephrata taking an early lead of 4-1. But L-S won’t give up just yet. With strong blocks by Hailey Hoover, hits by Abbie Powell and Betsy Brenneman, and a hard spike by Becca Cohen, L-S ties Ephrata 10-10, again at 12-12 and at 15-15. Neck and neck, L-S pulls ahead with an amazing serve by Emma Cohen. Abbie Powell, with an outstanding spike at Ephrata, sends the crowd cheering like crazy, with L-S in the lead at 17-16.
Hailey Hoover has several spikes, bringing L-S even further in the lead. But once again, L-S falls to Ephrata 23-25. L-S tried hard though, and had fun raising money for breast cancer awareness on their annual Dig Pink Night.
Come out and support the girls at their next game on Tuesday, October 10 at 7 pm at Solanco, and come watch L-S Girls Volleyball’s final home game, Senior Night, on Wednesday, October 18 at 7 pm.
--By Olivia Sullivan, LS News reporter
