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High school volleyball: Tigers learn about loyalty, forgiveness en route to team's first championship

It has been a blast watching the tigers this year. Excellent work on a memorable season. Happy to read that the girls have grown together and learned together and sports have given a way to learn life lessons. Way to go tigers.

ATTA BABY!!! Way to be ladies! you went up there for the trophy and by golly you got it! Megs, Jordo love ya Congrats!! i wish i would have been there. HURRICANE PRIDE WE ARE PROUD OF YOU!!

Way to work hard and reach your goal ladies! HHS's first ever vollyball state championship. wow!! It has been great following you all this year. Now if the HHS football team can just follow your example, things will be great here in Tiger-land!!

Congratulations!!! Thanks for setting the precedent for us. Way to go!!

Kalistina should have never been able to come back on the team. Congrats to the girls that were dedicated to each other and loyal to each other and the schoool and not just about themselves. You dropped the ball on this one coach.

I would like to thank Coach McKeehan and his staff for the sacrifices and efforts made this season. The girls on this team have gone through a refiner's fire and come out better.

I am so proud to be their principal.
Mr. Pedersem

Way to go!! CONGRATS on the big win!! You guys are a great team...I'm glad you won state you desevered it!!

Thank you Carbon volleyball team. It has been a pleasure watching you play. I love you and appreciate the great girls that you all are on and off of the court. Special thanks to the 6 seniors that have been together since jr. high. It's been a great ride to be as involved with you as I have. You are great girls and your personal integrity and guts go way beyond the ball court. Always know that you are winners in my heart. To the remaining girls on the volleyball team and the future girls on the team... please remember the example of the past volleyball teams. Be your best on and off of the court and carry on the legacy of good sprotsmanship and friendship into the future. Good luck future Carbon volleyball team. Remember, I'll be there watching you.

obviously who ever wrote the comment about how she shouldnt be able to come back on the team has never played on a real team and should learn how to forgive. Being on a team is tough and some times in a heated moment you can make stupid decisions. She knew she messed up and she wanted to come back and support her team so get off her and the coaches back. Congrats Hurricane! I was yelling for you the whole playoff game!!!

Congrats to your team. you earned it. We are proud of all the Southern Utah teams.

Congratulations to the "team". Its about the team and never the individuals and though its a cliche its the way it should be. Lessons learned through sports are embedded for a lifetime. Hats of to Coach McKeehan and the way he has conducted himself and taught the girls. It is well deserved and has brought some pride to a community but more importantly to the kids. It is too bad that some on the outside don't see the whole picture. No dropped balls here, just aces.

Way to Go TIGERS!!!!! I am so proud of the girls and all that they have accomplished this season on and off the court. As for the comment above about the lack of backbone, I beg to differ and am humbled by the girls showing such compassion and togetherness in their decisions. I do not know of any other team that would be so forgiving and hard working. A State Championship has qualities further than just winning games, its about coming together and the Hurricane Lady Tigers did just that!

I am very proud of the courage Kalistina had to quit a sport that was the love of her life. Kalistina has given her all to this team. The conditions which led her to quit were significant. It wasn't a mistake, it was well thought out. She handled herself with class. The compassion and forgiving spoken of, goes both ways. When given the choice by her coach to come back, it was her compassion and her love for her teammates and the school that changed her mind. To set the record straight, she did not ask to come back. Not collecting the details of the situation, exposes one's own ignorance. Kalistina did the right thing to quit and did the right thing to come back. Sports aren't just competions, contained in it are life lessons that can't be learned anywhere else. I have learned the definition of courage from her.
Kalistina's Dad

Good Job!!!

Great job Tigers!

To accuse coach of having dropped the ball and not having a backbone you clearly know little about that young coach. What he teaches is about more then volleyball, yes he is competive, that very drive has made the program what it is. Perhaps if you were a part of the program and knew the details and way the Kalistina issue was conducted you might have a different perspective. For me, I couldn't ask for a better teaching and learning experience for all involved.
I guess the choice of the kids and coaches must have been the right one because they played better at state then I saw in the games I attended during the season.
Hats off to you coach, come back for one more please.....

This team has showed incredible heart and desire this entire season! They have beaten the odds with people throwing excuses in their faces and making comments they never deserved. I have watched my sister (#4) work hard with the other senior to keep the team upbeat and positive and yes, to forgive and move on. This team DESERVED the win and won it fair and square! I am and always will be proud to call myself a HURRICANE TIGER! This team and school has HEART and DETERMINATION that even goes beyond a state championship! And, coming from a former volleyball player myself, we all take great pride in this title now. WAY TO GO, TIGERS!!! You ARE #1!

Rock on Coach McKeehan. Its all about the players but championships don't happen without a Captain to guide the ship. One lesson that continuously needs to learned: Players-Play, Coaches-Coach and Parents-need to back away and just be Parents.

I played for Hurricane and one thing I always knew, coach loved me enough to demand more from me. He pushed me daily, I hated him for it then but love what I have learned from him. His idea of "team" took me a while to accept, once I did I became the player he told me I was. I am so happy for this team, one thing I know is that they worked so hard to get where they are, why try to take away from what was accomplished? To the girls, WOW, to coach, thank you.

When a team decides to approach the coach and ask to make the decision, it cannot be a bad decision. The team came first. They knew the situation. They know the young lady. All involved felt that their relationship with her was more important than pride, envy, selfishness, etc.

The one who dropped the ball is the one without the backbone and had the audacity to make that comment in the wake of their celebration of a state championship. To all the naysayers, move on. The team, the coach, and the principal endorsed the return of a lovely young lady and friend.