Throughout the high school, there has been a new sensation among girls in the student body: the newly founded Peachtree Road United Methodist Church (PRUMC) Volleyball League. Known for its wildly popular Boys Basketball League during the winter, the church is now offering a recreation volleyball league for high school girls around the area.
This league consists of six teams, with five teams from Westminster and one from Lovett. The Westminster teams’ captains are seniors Anna Kate Heller and Margaret Walker for the one team, seniors Liz Morgan and Emma Boelter for the second team, juniors Rhett Alby and Liza Linginfelter for the third team, juniors Isabel Insolia and Anna Richardson for the fourth team, and sophomores Afton Yildirim and Susannah Irvin for the fifth team.
Each Thursday night, there are three games: at 6:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and 8:00 p.m. This convenient timing helps athletes who participate in other fall sports like softball and cross country by enabling them to go to practice and still arrive in time to play. These games occur every week through the end of November, when the basketball league begins.
This volleyball league does have rules regarding fairness of play. Much like PRUMC basketball, volleyball players who play on the varsity squad at their schools cannot compete, making the league more interesting, fair, and fun.
After attending and hearing about the basketball games at PRUMC for years, the high school girls are excited to be the on-court talent this time around, and have the boys attend their games.
“It’s kind of funny for them to hear the girls doing something that they are doing,” said Richardson.
This year the most successful teams thus far have been the teams captained by Insolia and Richardson, as well as Yildirim and Irvin’s team. Both teams are undefeated so far and faced off on Thursday, October 25th, where someone won.
As the season continues, many participants are delighted in how the season has gone.
“Watching my friends get so competitive is hilarious,” said senior Ansley Walker.
Other students have enjoyed not only the volleyball, but the camaraderie associated with it.
“It’s fun how we play teams from different grades and different schools,” said junior Emma Reifenberger.
Much credit to the early success of the league must be given to Richardson. Once she discovered the league, she managed to round up six teams and create the league almost entirely on her own.
“I think it’s really cool that we just decided we wanted to play volleyball and then Anna took the initiative and actually started it,” said Reifenberger. “It sounds like something we would just say we’re going to do.”
As the league continues into its final stretch, the Wildcat teams hope for a fun and exciting conclusion to what hopefully becomes a tradition for years to come.
