Rangers Volleyball Digs Pink

Pink, not maroon, dominated the Westborough High School gymnasium stands for the volleyball team's match against North Middlesex last Tuesday.

The volleyball program's fifth "Dig Pink" fundraiser for breast cancer awareness raised $3,000 to $4,000, for the Side-Out Foundation, Rangers varsity head coach Roger Anderson said.

The foundation seeks "to unite volleyball players and coaches and to have them work toward the common goal of furthering breast cancer awareness, education, and patient services," according to its website.

"The stands were pink," Anderson said.

"There were at least 200 ... 250 students. They absolutely filled a whole section of the bleachers. A huge group of parents. There were people who had no connection to the volleyball program that were in the stands. That's pretty neat that it's become a community event."

Senior tri-captain Jessica McDermott said that "we all know someone that's been affected by it. My best friend's mom. And my grandmother. There's a bunch of girls on the team whose mother or grandmother has been affected."

"It's not necessarily about how much money we can raise. It's just spreading awareness," McDermott said.

Anderson said the ceremony includes survivors coming onto the court and receiving a flower "from the person that knows them on our team."

Nine survivors received flowers this year, he said. "I thought that was pretty awesome."

The North Middlesex players supported the effort as well.

"Their captains came over to me as they walked in and said, 'Here.' They had a Ziplog bag just stuffed with money. They said, 'We wanted to be a part of it,'" Anderson said.

The Rangers are 14-1 entering Monday's tournament at Springfield College.

Westborough has qualified for the districts.

"It just speaks to how hard everyone's been working," said senior tri-captain Samantha Kehoe.

"We have 12 seniors this year, two sophomores, two juniors. I think we've all been working so hard. That we have so much depth really shows."

"Coming back from last season, we already had a lot of goals, at tryouts and even before then," senior tri-captain Addington D'Luzansky added.

Anderson said that "I think that one of the things that defines senior-laden teams is they all know it's their last chance."

"Like last year, when we had a group of juniors that dominated the play, deep down inside, it's not their last chance. This group knows that, deep down inside, for many of them, it is their last chance."