With 18 wins and one loss under their belt, the Fossil Ridge High School volleyball team is ranked sixth in state as they ended their season on Thursday, October 23. The Sabercat’s last home game celebrated the eight seniors on the team, Ellie Brase, Jessica Chesrown, Courtney Dix, Charlie Durbin, Mataya Megson, Catie Semadeni, Emily Wind, and Riley Zuhn. All of the girls who had committed to play in college wore their future school shirts and all seniors were given heartfelt farewells by their younger teammates. Although the game may have started with some bittersweet moments the game ended with sweet victory for the Sabercats in a three-set sweep over Loveland High School.

While Fossil took an early lead over Loveland in the first set the Indians slowly but surely started catching up, but after the Sabercats took a timeout they dominated the court for the rest of the set. Senior Mataya Megson scored the winning point of the first set 25-18. Despite a quick first set Fossil and Loveland were neck in neck in the final minutes of the second set. At first, the Sabercats held a 15-8 strong lead over the Indians until both teams were tied up 17-17. This was the first of three ties until Fossil took the lead at 20-19 and then took the set 24-21.

Going into the third set with a 2-0 lead the Sabercats did not look like a team at the end of their season, but a team ready to dominate not only their last home game for some but to dominate in the State Tournament in three weeks. Riley Zuhn killed it in the third set, dominating the scoreboard and scoring the last point for Fossil. In a 3-0 sweep, the Sabercats took the third set and the game 25-15.

In an interview after the game, one of the team captains Catie Semadeni said “It feels surreal,” when asked how it felt to win her last home game as a Sabercat. However, as the team was celebrating a momentous last game one could notice that head coach Paul Shimek had been absent from the game. Semadeni said, “It was tough, obviously we would have wanted him here for Senior Night and everything, but our team is really strong and our team chemistry is really strong, and so we were able to kind of band together and fill in the missing gap.”

Fossil will be hosting the Regional Tournament next week on Friday, November 2 at 4:00 P.M. in the Fossil main gym. Come out and support your Sabercats as they start their road to state, and to find out who the girls will be playing at Regionals follow @frhssportsnews on Twitter.