Monthly Mortonian
Mustangs Wrap Up Seasons with W'sTuesday, May 22, 2012 By Victor Contreras and Brenda Alvarez
The volleyball season for the Morton Mustangs had its ups and downs. Although there were some losses, the boys managed to come up strong as a team with a 4-1 conference record. The varsity team welcomed new sophomores. The team -- three seniors, six juniors, and four sophomores -- had to get used to playing with each other. Sophomore Andrew Franco was a newbie on Varsity. Besides being an athlete, Andrew is also one of the top students here at Morton. "All I do is go to practice, go home, eat, do my AP Euro homework," Andrew said. The team is a family, it's not a one man team, they all make sacrifices and make the best of the season. "No excuses, learn, and don't give up," Andrew said. Senior captain Bryan Gutierrez shared his favorite highlight of the season. "The game against Leyden was a very intense one, we both played extremely well and with that each team won one match. We went to a third game, we played outstanding and luckily came home with a win," Bryan Gutierrez said. One of the most unforgettable highlights of this years season would be their match against Addison Trail. It was a very intense game, and a little mistake led to a facial hit towards Morton's sophomore setter Alejandro Olivares. Although the hit impacted him, it didn't stop him from continuing the play. Amazingly, the boys were able to get that point besides the altercations. Girls head coach, and assistant coach for the boys team Coach Yepez had a few words about this season. "I believe that each starter is at the same level of experience, they're young and they're learning," Coach Yepez said. So far the season has been a rocky one, but the coaches encourage their team every step of the way. "Even though they've lost games, they're 4-1 in conference, which means they have a strong possibility of winning regionals, they need confidence in themselves and as a team to finish the season out strong," Coach Yepez said. LADY MUSTANGS DEFEAT GLENBARD SOUTH On a wet and brisk day the Raiders came into Morton feeling hot, scoring an opening goal with 26:05 in the first half by Stephanie Schmieder. But that did not stop the Mustangs from finding the back of the net. Morton's Tania Paez scored off an assist from Briana Keska with 23:01 in the first half. The Mustangs tacked on two more goals as the tenacious defense from Glenbard was not enough. Keska dodged and split defenders and crossed the ball to set up teammate Alejandra Le for the goal. The Morton girls defense proved to be the turning point keeping the ball away from goalie Karen Navarette who allowed just that one goal. "Our defense has been getting stronger and is doing a better job not giving up easy goals. Our defenders; Gabby Fuentes is able to mark anyone along with Dulce Chavez", said Morton head coach Jim Bagaenis. With 9:19 left in the game Keska came through with a penalty kick to open up a 3-1 lead in the second half. And what turned out to be the final score. "If we finish our chances then we will be in every game. We have a limited number of chances so we have to make them count; because there is no second game," Bagaenis said (about the upcoming state playoffs). The Mustangs have a record of 10-6-4. |