Emilly Weihrauch and Jessica Li also contributed to this article.
Before the Girls’ Volleyball team was even on the court, the bleachers were filled with families and supporters of the seniors and decorations. The energy in the Finn Gym stayed strong throughout the night and the team was prepared to send that energy right back.
After both teams used their team to warm up before the game, they lined up on opposite sides of the court, and Coach Daniel Jurkowski started by showing gratitude to MetroTech Vocational School and saying some words for the seniors on the team. He reflected on how he had seen the seniors grow up and blossom into the people they are now. “To see them grow up and become the humans first that they are is really special. They’ve exceeded all expectations as I knew, as I knew they would. We have a team that qualified for the state tournament, which is awesome.” This season, there were seven seniors and three captains. Jurkowski then continued by addressing each senior individually, talking about how he has seen them all develop and how they have had a positive impact on the team.
He started with Julianna Lin who played on Varsity for one year. “She’s an unbelievable kid. She does great things in school. She’s been an MVP for us on the court at certain times this year, whenever we need her and call her name, she comes in and she plays, and just the way that she smiles every single day.” He continued, saying, “I don’t think that she’s ever had a bad day, because she’s smart enough and mature enough to be able to process things in a way that makes sure that everyone else is happy.”
When Jurkowski continued and began talking about Marie Cheng, a senior who played on Varsity for two years, he said, “She’s very passionate about certain things, and very happy that she became passionate about volleyball. She’s been a huge help with everything we do with middle school volleyball. She’s always volunteering her time, she’s always willing to help fresh new girls, the JV girls coach, and she’s been encouraging them to be better volleyball players and people.”
Next was Amanda Piva, a senior who played in varsity for two years. Jurkowski showed appreciation for her dedication to the sport even though she had her own challenges off the court. “Like a lot of our students at Malden High, she has a lot of commitments, she needs to be a big sister to her siblings. She does the work to help support her family. And it would’ve been super easy for her to not play volleyball her senior year because she had so much going on.” However, this did not stop her, as Jurkowski expounded: he wanted to be a part of the team. And one of our superstar middles had an unfortunate injury. She was able to step in, and she’s been great for us”.
Next was Sarah Pham, who had also been on Varsity for two years. Jurkowski showed appreciation for her willingness to enter a new role. “Last year she was here every day at practice. And this year she stepped into a Center role. And it takes a lot of courage to play this position. She’s been great for us”. It is not easy to transition into a new position, especially so late into a career, but he elaborated that Pham always made it happen.
Then Jurkowski introduced the three captains for this year’s Varsity team. He started with Lovely Gerochi, who had been playing on Varsity for two years. “She’s one of the friends I met in the fifth grade at Salemwood when I had no idea what I was doing as a teacher. She played volleyball in the gym basically every single day. I would put a net up no matter what the activity was. And to see her eight years later as an all-around player… she’s all on the court. She knows how to play and she knows where to be.”
The next captain introduced was Jeslyn San who has also been on Varsity for two years. Jurkowski stated “She has that ability where she’s able to inspire the people around her without saying anything. When you watch her play on the court, the other girls automatically have to be on top of everything. Because she’s diving all over the floor, and she’s our Libero and she’s been phenomenal all year, she’s been probably our MVP.”
Jurkowski then finished with Abigail Lee, a senior who had been playing on varsity for three years. Lee was also one of the students that Jurkowski taught at Salemwood before arriving at Malden High. “When Abigail was in fifth grade, our volleyball team went one and 19. And I certainly don’t define the success of our program based on wins, because it’s high school sports and high school sports are supposed to be fun and they’re supposed to be a life experience to make people better in life.” Despite this not being the only factor, he confirmed that t was just one sign of her dedication to the team: “it is nice when you see the kids put in the work on the court and in the classroom and what they’ve done for the community and the kids below them. It is nice to see that that hard work pays off in a meaningful way. She’s had 36 wins so far in her career for Malden Volleyball. It’s because of people like her that our program is where it is”.
After Jurkowski introduced the seniors and they took their family photos, the team decided to share a message. “He has helped us improve ourselves on the court. Dan always puts the team first. He buys us hair ties knowing that us girls can’t keep up with them, and his main focus is to make sure we are all safe and healthy. We want everyone to know how much Dan has impacted our lives and the kind person he is. He is kind, he is hardworking, he genuinely cares, he is giving, he is very supportive, he’s very trustworthy, he’s really patient, and always there for us,” the captains professed. At the end of the ceremony, the team was energetic and ready to play five sets. Jurkowski closed out the ceremony with “Let’s play volleyball!”
With the help of the supporters chanting in the bleachers, the team started the first set with energy that set a foundation for how the team would perform for the entire game. The set started with three consecutive aces from Pham. After Malden started trailing 15-12, Jurkowski decided to call a timeout. The team came out of the timeout strong making sure they kept smooth rotations and the ball moving quickly. A repeating theme throughout the game was Malden’s ability to use their height and jumping ability to make sure the ball didn’t cross the net. After an intense sequence of rallies, MetroTech called a timeout with Malden leading 20-19. After the timeout, both teams stepped on the court ready to close out the set. But Malden closed out the set with a kill from Abigail Lee, resulting in a 25-21 victory for Malden.
The team stayed aggressive throughout the second set, but they lacked control early in the set. When Malden called a timeout while trailing 15-9, Jurkowski addressed their impulsivity saying “The hustle is phenomenal, the energy is great, but we’re too excited.” Although the team wasn’t able to earn the lead, the players used Jurkowski’s motivational words of “keep fighting one point at a time” and kept momentum as Cheng was able to perform eight consecutive serves all resulting in points for Malden. Although Malden lost the set 25-22, Cheng believes that the set “motivated the team to actually keep fighting instead of giving up the set. Energy was low before the end of the set and that was our way of resetting for the rest of the game”.
The third set was a completely different story: the team was able to make sure that no serves were uncontested. The team was completely dominant throughout the entirety of the set, forcing MetroTech to call a timeout while trailing 19-5. During the timeout, Jurkowski showed appreciation for how the team opened every serve, “Keep swinging. We still need to finish. Our serving has been phenomenal”. The end of the set was very similar to the beginning. After maintaining focus and high energy, Malden was able to win the third set 25-10.
Unfortunately, this dominant victory was immediately responded to by MetroTech. While Malden was aggressive throughout the set, this led to a lack of accuracy in their hits, which only increased the distance in their scores. Malden went on to lose the set 25-13.
The final set started with three rallies served by Pham that resulted in points for Malden. As the team shuffled through their serving cycle, they witnessed numerous aces from multiple players, including Rashmi KC. As the team pushed closer to victory, the bleachers roared with chants and excitement. As the score stood 14-7, the ball was placed in Pham’s hands to serve the winning rally. An ace from Pham earned Malden the win as supporters from the bleachers crowded the court and showed their excitement for the team. After the team lined up at the net to show sportsmanship and shake hands with MetroTech, they were met with friends and family as they all chanted “Let’s Go, Malden!”
