As all the fall sports of the 2022-23 season are coming to an end, McNary's volleyball team is thriving. The team stayed competitive throughout the season and kept a positive attitude.

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McNary High School has three volleyball teams: Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Freshman. Each has their own experience and background with volleyball.

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“I started volleyball in 8th grade and I had done NPJ [North Pacific Juniors Volleyball Club] during the off-season from school so this is my second year playing, “ said Reagan Powers, a player on the freshman team. 

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Devinity Voorhis plays in the school’s Junior Varsity team and has been playing volleyball for 10 years. 

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“I did club volleyball for CCE Capital City Elite and did middle school volleyball and also boys and girls club volleyball,” Voorhis said. “I started when I was six at volleyball camps because my aunt was a coach”. 

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Kimberly Moisan, a German teacher at McNary, is also a coach for the freshman volleyball team. Moisan taught the girls a new word, “schadenfreude”, to help them win. 

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“There were a lot of wins and losses and a lot of emotions. Once we learned that energy brought sadness from joy. We call It “schadenfreude,” said Powers. “the other team would get sad if we were winning so once we found out that we gave them  schadenfreude, we would win” 

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The Junior Varsity team ended their season on a higher note with lots of improvement. 

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“We weren’t playing to play, we were actually trying to get better,” said Voorhis.   

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Everyone has their own motivations and people that keep them in the right mindset. People who helped them find their sport, for Voorhis that person is her mom.

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“she comes to every game and she loves it. After a hard game of me being upset or me wishing I would do something else she always pointed out the positive for me and pointed out how my team would do good at something this time or that I did well at something this time,” She said. “She’s just always first in the volleyball stands, she never misses a game”.

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Power's mom was also her main support along with some of her friends. 

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“My mom comes to every single one of my volleyball games. She would never gave me feedback which I liked,” Powers said. 

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Power's mom always gave her words of encouragement to help support her, even if it was a hard game. 

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“My mom always encouraged me to try out. She’d take me to every practice and always pushed me to be athletic,” she said. 

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Powers first got into playing volleyball during her eighth grade year. 

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“My friend had asked me to sign up for eighth-grade volleyball. I had thought that [it] would be fun. Then later on she took me to the NPJ tryouts and that’s what made me want to do high school volleyball “ she said. 

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Voorhis first exposure to volleyball was at the early age of six. Her aunt, who was a coach, brought her to a volleyball camp to try the sport out. Since then Voorhis played and discovered what her strengths were. 

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“I was fast and I could always get to the balls that other people were sure that they could get,” Voorhis said. “I had a quick reaction time.” 

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