The annual volleyball tournament, held by the Student Council, has been a tradition at LHS for many years. The week of Homecoming is always a busy week, and starts off on a Monday with the volleyball tournament. It is a great way to get kids engaged without taking too much time out of their day, and to have a little fun.

The tournament is nothing serious, and allows kids to make teams with their friends for an entry fee of $5 per person. All proceeds are non-profit, and get donated to the Special Olympics of Sioux Falls; therefore, you can pay and play, knowing that it goes towards a good cause.

On Monday, Oct. 3,  2022, is when this year’s tournament was held. This is the first day of Homecoming week and gets the week of fun off to a great start. Students enjoy the“non-competitive” aspect of the tournament. The teams are to register a week prior to the games, with their team name, players, and a coach. After that, they are registered into the bracket. The bracket was randomly selected into who plays who. This year has been the most successful year out of them all, with 26 teams registering. To say the least, it was a very successful night. 

Teams got very creative with their team name choices, some of them being; Big Dig Energy, Ball Busters, Royals and Block It Like It’s Hot. There were three courts going at once, and the mini gym was available for teams to practice beforehand. Students took this as an opportunity to dress up. Most attire being, tank tops, football jerseys and eyeblack as an accessory. The LHS volleyball team was in charge of reffing.

“It was so much fun, probably the most fun I’ve ever had at a school event like that. It did get very competitive at times and some people were getting mad at us refs but in the end, that’s what made it more fun,” said senior Kate Tollinger, who was in charge of court number two.

Overall, the team who came out on top was the Bone Squad. The players included: Ethan Olson, Caden Watson, Kooper Perry, Sawyer Tolk, Kasen Christiansen and Drew Gohl. As a fresh walk-on to the team, Tolk was considered the MVP.

“We had great team work all around. I was just trying to be a leader for my team when we were down, I’d score some extra points down (opponent) JT’s throat,” said Tolk.  They received medals and bragging rights. Next year, this tournament will most likely be continued and forever be a favorable tradition at LHS.