Pacing and Preparing for Playoffs

BY KATY PULITANO

 

With students coming back from winter break, many of the Bay’s sports teams are continuing to prepare for their upcoming playoffs. They are beginning in January and continuing throughout February, and junior Kiera Simmons said her and the rest of the girls varsity soccer team are ready. Simmons said she has high expectations for the games and cannot wait to see her team work together for a goal they have been working towards for months.

“We want to win the whole thing and I am confident that with our team this year we can definitely achieve that,” Simmons said. “We have great girls who are really a family on and off the field and it’ll correlate to our success.”

Simmons was on the team last year as well, and she said that since a lot of the seniors left, it impacted the team a lot, but not necessarily in a bad way. She said they have had to adapt to a different style of playing to accommodate for everyone, and while they still have things to tweak, they are overall ready and excited for this month.

“I think we have a lot more work to do on the field to be ready for playoffs but I know we are heading in the right direction,” Simmons said. “We can always improve and be better especially as the competition stiffens the further you get.” 

The Bay’s basketball team has been working hard for the playoffs as well, and head coach Jason Looky is interested to see how everything will play out. He said that this year’s team shows a great sense of sportsmanship and teamwork, which are two important qualities needed to succeed during the playoffs.

“This year’s team statistically has the biggest margin of victory as we set a record of the most points scored at 95,” Looky said. “I think they’re different from past teams because they share the ball beautifully with no concern for who scores.”

Junior varsity basketball player Peyton Looky said she agrees with this, and that the girls on the team this year flow well together on and off the court. She said that because of this, she is looking forward to the playoffs and is excited to see how it will go down.

“I expect our team to do well this season and that will hopefully translate to the playoffs,” Looky said. “We are off to a good start with a record of six wins and four losses, so I expect big things from the coming weeks.”

Looky has been on the team since freshman year, so she has experienced the flow and connection of multiple different sets of teams. She said that this year’s team communicates well and she is glad to be with them through the playoffs.

 “The team is similar to last year despite losing two seniors,” Looky said. “This year’s team has great chemistry and we are all good friends which helps on the court. We have a young roster but we all work well together.”