Aloha, Granbury

Sure, the Granbury volleyball team’s trip to Hawaii last week may have looked like a vacation – and in some ways, it was.

“Amazing,” seniors Peyton Bell and Macie Blohowiak said in unison.

“It was so much fun,” said junior Trinity Matthews. “Very humid, but very fun.”

The Lady Pirates snorkeled, hiked through mountains and attended an authentic Hawaiian luau. Surfing seemed to be a hot topic among the team.

“I liked surfing the best,” Bell said. “I didn’t know I was a natural surfer.”

Blohowiak, meanwhile, disagreed.

“Surfing, not my thing,” she said. “Hated it.”

But there was plenty of hard work too, as Granbury competed against eight teams from across the country at the Ann Kang Invitational at ‘Iolani High School.

The Lady Pirates went 3-5 at the tournament, beating Pearl City (25-14, 25-18), Hawaii Baptist (25-21, 25-15) and Escondido (19-25, 25-15, 15-0). Granbury lost to Redondo Union (17-25, 26-28), Kahuku (10-25, 22-25), ‘Iolani (18-25, 14-25), Mililani (22-25, 25-20) and Los Alamitos (23-25, 15-25).

The losses aren’t the focus for the Lady Pirates, as the trip was meant to give them experience against tough competition and bring them closer together as a team, both on and off the court. Playing against teams like ‘Iolani, which Blohowiak said was “really good,” helps achieve both of those goals.

“It makes us a lot better,” junior Courtney Smith said. “We get to work on stuff. It’s faster paced.”

“It’s harder balls every single time, so it gets us prepared,” Matthews added. “I’m so ready for the (Gran-bury) Tournament. That tournament there just made us so much more prepared for the tournament that’s going to happen.”

BONDING THROUGH EXHAUSTION

The Lady Pirates left Texas on Aug. 7, and landed back at D/FW Airport on Aug. 13, which happened to be the first day of school.

“We drove straight from the airport to the school,” Bell said.

“A lot of people didn’t get sleep on the plane,” said Blohowiak. “Everybody was just dead.”

Even head coach Desiree Shahan had to agree the trip back was rough.

“It was brutal,” she said. “Thank goodness it was a direct flight. We were running on fumes.”

To make matters worse, Granbury had to play a road game at Class 6A Arlington Martin Tuesday, losing 3-0 (25-18, 25-14, 25-23). The scoreline indicates just how tired the Lady Pirates were, but they were proud of their efforts.

“Being so tired, we did really good for how exhausted we were,” Smith said.

“They played really well,” Shahan said. “They hung with Arlington Martin, and they never gave up, and you couldn’t tell that they had just been in Hawaii for a week.”

So does that mean the team building was a success?

The Lady Pirates say it did. They might not have had a choice.

“ Being in those cramped rooms for six days, team bonding went on,” Bell said, laughing.

Evidence of better team chemistry could be seen on the court in Hawaii.

“Toward the beginning it wasn’t too good,” Smith said. “But we talked it out. We’re doing a lot better after that.”

“I think we had some down moments during the game, but immediately, the kids wanted to have a team meeting,” Shahan said. “They worked it out.”

Six days in one place with any group of people is enough to drive anyone a little bonkers. But as Bell said:

“It’s a little hard to go insane on the beach.”