As playoffs approach, the varsity boys volleyball team played against Nicolet High School in its final match of the regular season on Tuesday, Oct. 27 at Homestead High School. Even though the boys lost to their opponents, Senior Night was a memorable and enjoyable night for the team.

“The most important thing to do on Senior Night is to give everyone playing time,” Jacob Urban, senior, said. The match meant a lot to Urban, especially since it was his last chance to ever play alongside his teammates in the regular season. “Obviously, we want to win, but the game didn’t mean anything for rankings or playoff outcomes, so we just wanted to have fun,” Urban said.

The Highlanders lost in their fifth game of the match; however, losing did not affect their position going into regionals. Homestead won game one 25-15. Nicolet beat Homestead in games two and three, 25-22 and 28-26 respectively, very close scores between the two teams. Homestead crushed in game four, winning 25-22, but Nicolet stole the win in the last game with a final score of 15-10.

“Nicolet has been one of our toughest competitors this year. This match didn’t matter in terms of standings, but we wanted to get a good look at how our different lineups worked against theirs,” Evan Greuel, senior, said. “While the outcome of the match was a loss, we learned a lot about what offense we’re going to face in playoffs, and we now know how we are going to adjust our lineup to contend when it matters.”

“We went into the game relaxed and enjoying Senior Night,” Jack Quinlevan, junior, said. “We know that if we win our first round of the playoffs, we will see Nicolet again in the regional finals. It was nice to get another shot at playing them, but we used the game as sort of a practice in preparation for the playoffs.”

Justen Newby, senior, is looking forward confidently to the next coming weeks of competition. “I feel like our team is in a great place. We’ve worked so hard all season, and I’m excited to see how far we can go,” Newby said.