After making it their season goal to reach the state tournament, losing 3-0 to Cedar Rapids Jefferson Monday night means that dream is over.

“It’s disappointing because I’ve never been to state before, and it was obviously just one of our goals to get there,” Mackenzie Murphy ‘19 said. “But since we had everyone back from last year we’ve definitely improved as a team and I’m just really proud of everyone for that. That’s the ultimate goal; to always get better.”

While City trailed by over 12 points in the second set, the first and third had Jefferson winning by only a couple of points. The No. 4 ranked Jefferson was favoured to win against the No. 12 ranked City High, but Murphy attributes the unexpectedly close finish to the team’s focus on fundamentals throughout the season.

“We’ve really been working on the passing and the fundamentals of it this year,” Murphy said.  “We really buckled down working on that and I think it showed last night just from how close the game was.”

Jefferson’s student section was out in force at the game, chanting especially loud whenever City called a timeout, or when a player was about to start a volley. But Murphy and her team just blocked out the distraction.

“Whenever we go to away games there’s usually a pretty big crowd, and they’re very supportive of their team which is great,” Murphy said. “But it’s just one of those things when we’re playing we have to focus on each other and the people on the court and our bench. Because that’s our student section most of the time. We had a pretty good little crowd, we heard the parents cheering and stuff, but we looked at each other during the game.”

This game marks the end of the season for City High volleyball, though most of the athletes will continue playing during their club seasons. But Murphy says that even after she’s finished club, she knows she will continue playing in college.

“It’s a sport that brings people together, and it’s just really fun to do, win or lose.”