The girls water polo team is approaching the end goal, the state meet. In preparation, they have a few big questions: who are they going to beat? Who is going to beat them? How far will they go? As states come closer, many water polo girls are talking about it.
“I'm gonna say me or Brooke are the most nervous, because I get really nervous when I go on goal, that I'm not gonna block any shots, so I'm probably really nervous for that.” Ruby Jackson (27) said.
Many players are nervous for the state meet, thinking about the state tournament, and they think about their chances of winning. Who will score the most goals, and how that will impact their placing.
“I'm thinking our captain, Gab Rudolph, is going to score the most goals, because she's been our top scorer all year. She's gonna keep it up,” Jackson said.
When thinking about who they are facing, it certainly looks grim; their first match is against a very skilled team that knows exactly what they are doing.
“Rockford, because they're the number one team, they've been consecutive winners for the past like two years,” Jackson said.
Many girls seem to back her up on this opinion, but while their first game may be tough for the girls of CHS, they still can place in the states.
“I think we have a pretty tough game the first day, so I don't think we're gonna make top four this year, but I think we're definitely gonna see higher than eight, so I'm thinking seventh,” Brooke Paddock (27) said.
While people are nervous to play, a couple of players are confident in their ability to pull through and give the other teams a hard time.
“I think that we're gonna do very good. I know we're a little bit nervous coming into it, because we're the underdogs,” said Paddock. “I think we're gonna come out super strong. We've been putting in a lot of hard work, and I think it's gonna show.”
Finally, the water polo girls look back at their standings last year, seeing how well they did. They are encouraged to do just as good or better this year.
“Last year we took fourth at states, and we lost to Skyline, who we beat this year, but yeah, we have gotten a lot further before,” said Jackson. “I think it's different, and I think Chelsea has lost a lot of their team members, but we've also managed to come back from that with a very strong, big freshman class.”
