Savannah Everett taking pride in leadership role for Palmer girls volleyball

COLORADO SPRINGS – In some ways, leadership is something that athletes will aspire to. In order circumstances, it’s something that athletes assume as a responsibility.

Palmer is not having its best volleyball season on record. The team has often struggled and but has never wavered when it comes to battling every minute to get every win that’s within its grasp.

That’s where Savannah Everett and the other seniors for the Terrors come into play. No matter how tough a match is or how much is not going Palmer’s way, this is a group of players that refuse to give up fighting.

Through everything they’ve been through in the last two years, perhaps the biggest lesson they’ve learned, and the biggest lesson they hope to pass down is that even through life’s curveballs, it’s important to push through and remain positive.

“With COVID and everything else, we’ve kept our heads high,” Everett said. “As a team, we’re doing great. Our leadership is good. It’s been hard with COVID, honestly, but I think we’re doing great with how hard it impacted us.”

The Terrors (5-10 overall) hit a bit of a rough patch, dropping seven matches in a row. They ended that skid in their home gym on Oct. 2 with a win over the Far Northeast Warriors. But all year, Everett has been consistent in several aspects of the game. She has 85 kills, 80 digs, 12 aces and seven total blocks.

All the while, she also tries to maintain an uplifting atmosphere on the court. She takes that aspect of her role as a senior leader very seriously and knows that it will have an impact on future classes at Palmer.

“I take a lot of pride in that especially with the other captains,” Everett said. “During the games, everyone needs to be lifted up. If our heads are down, we’re not going to be playing at our best.”

The Terrors are a relatively young team with just four seniors on the roster. Everett, Solyn Lockwood-Koontz, Calyna Garcia and Gwendolyn Garcia have all seen significant playing time and with the rest of the team made up of sophomores and juniors, they’re trying to build that expectation of leadership within the program.

A big way that they’re trying to establish that tone is by savoring every minute that they get on the court and showing everyone from teammates and coaches to the fans that they have a love for the game that warrants enjoying every set and every opportunity to compete.

“It’s our last year and we want to take advantage of that,” Everett said. “We have people who play and people who want to play in college so playing together now is very important to us.”

Regardless of how the season ends, the memories of their careers at Palmer will remain with them and they hope that their efforts over the last few season can help establish a foundation for the program’s growth in the future.