NEWBERG, Ore. (KOIN) — Emma Vaughn first stepped on the volleyball court in 7th grade. The sisterhood she found there immediately drew her in.
“I was with my brother who was watching a friend and I always did dance and gymnastics and my parents were like, ‘You should try this sport.’ And I was like, ‘I don’t know’ and they like super- convinced me and I tried it and I loved it,” Vaughn told KOIN 6 News. “With dance it was kind of like individually, like, you did your dance, you know what I mean? With volleyball it was more like, I made a lot of friends, the movement, the diving around.”
Her friendships off the court deepened as did her committment on it to be her best for her teammate sisters.
But the Newberg Tigers were upset in Round One of the playoffs. With the end of that final match came what might be her last time on a school volleyball program.
As she reflected on a season where her team had more attention on it than any time before, she’ll remember how close they got because of it.
“We were able to get a lot closer than any other team,” she said. “We spent a lot of time outside of volleyball together to just gain that, like, friendship so that when we were there we could just focus on volleyball and that friendship. And so I think I’ll always remember that with this team.”
