Mehr Singh Co-Sports Editor Last night, the Latin Girls Volleyball Team hosted a very pink, Volley for the Cure event. The freshman, JV, and Varsity girl’s volleyball teams played matches against Walter Payton to raise money for breast cancer. Volley for the Cure shirts were made and sold for ten dollars and all the Latin volleyball players wore pink socks to promote the event. The event was extremely successful with about two hundred fans (a new record for the volleyball teams) coming to watch the matches and support breast cancer research. Fans were asked to make a donation upon entry of the gym and Ms. O’Keefe excitedly said, “ I know we raised over a thousand dollars. I haven’t finished counting it yet.” The cause of the event made the Latin girls determined to play an aggressive match, but Walter Payton proved to be tough competition for both JV and Varsity. JV lost the first game 8-25, with Walter Payton coming out with strong serves and blocks up at the net. The Latin team came back in the second game, with freshman Emily Salzman’s strong serves intimidating the Payton girls. Junior Rebecca Rocakz and freshman Camden Olson made some great kills up at the net leading the JV team to win the second game 25-19. Excited with their win the girls continued to play aggressively on the court, but Payton came back wanting to win. Latin and Payton were neck and neck. Latin came back to steal the lead with strong serves and great defense by libero on the team, sophomore Maggie Nemoy. Latin won the third game 25-22, winning the match. Varsity was ready for their game wearing their personalized Volley for the Cure t-shirts with the players’ nicknames and numbers on the back. Not only was the night a Volley for the Cure event, it was also senior night. The seniors on the team received flowers from Varsity coach Liz Nelson and took pictures with their parents. The Latin Roman greeted the players as the starting line-up for the team was announced. With an enthusiastic start the girls played aggressively on the court with senior Jacqueline Surdell playing defense on the court and senior Teddy Nagaro making some great hits. Payton came back  aggressively with their middle blocker having some hard hits. Unfortunately, the girls lost the first game 11-25. The team came back strong and continued to fight in the second game against Payton. Junior Nikki Dizon played well defensively in the back row with perfect three-point passes up to setter Peyton Pritikin. The game was tough and the girls lost by a very close score of 24-26. Despite the loss, senior captain and setter on the team, Peyton Pritikin, said, “ Senior night was great. I couldn’t have picked a better night for it to be on. While we had a tough match against Payton, it was really special to be supporting a cause. The entire team really got into the idea of the match and I think everyone realized that, while we were playing to win, we were really playing to help raise money for breast cancer research. It was great to share senior night with Volley for the Cure.”]]>