The beginning of senior year is an exciting time for any student for many reasons. It’s the last year of high school, students are getting ready for college, and having fun with friends. However, this time is more exciting when you also play a sport.

Playing your last season of a high school sport is bittersweet, you are looking forward to finally being the oldest and being able to be a leader to your peers, yet this is the last time that you will be playing with your high school team. The Tower meat with volleyball player Brielle Wilkins to discuss her feelings about her final year on the court, and her major victory of getting her 500th kill.

Brielle started playing volleyball when she was in the 4th grade and started playing club in the 7th. “It’s the thrill of the kill” mentions Brielle, something that her mom always tells her when discussing why people play volleyball. “The thrill of the kill” is what keeps Wilkins playing coming onto her ninth year in the game. “The best part is always having high energy and always having a major supportive team behind you, whether it’s your family, friends, or teammates.” Brielle went on to say, “The relationship you share with your team is the most valuable part of the game, because without them you wouldn’t be the player you are,” and reveals that, “the best part of it all is the connection you obtain, the little family that the team becomes.” Wilkins shared that without her team — her family — she would have never been able to accomplish something a huge as her 500th kill.

In volleyball one way to score a point is to get a kill, spiking the ball so it is unable to be returned, and this year Brielle did that for the 500th time. This is a huge milestone in her playing career and Wilkins described what this accomplishment meant to her explaining, “It’s amazing. It’s a huge feeling of satisfaction.”

Apart from Brielle’s personal success, the team had some successes of their own as a whole including coming together to beat Elkhart Central and making it to the sectional championship, but along the way to these victories the team suffered a few losses here and there. However, Wilkins said that “we overcome them, we get into the gym and say ‘no more’ and come together as a team, as a family, and make it happen.”

This is not the last time that you will be able to see her out on the court, as Brielle committed to play at Ohio Dominican University and is going to play throughout college. Wilkins expressed that she is super excited for the next chapter in her life, but she also mentioned “that I will just miss high school volleyball in general, the opportunity to represent John Adams with some of the best teammates by my side.”