After a long season of ups and downs, the Lady Oakies are ready for their playoff run and are looking to surprise and upset this year's district bracket. Last year, the girls' total record with tournaments included was 8-21-1. This year, they blew that out of the water, going 15-16-3. Tonight, they will travel to Park Hill to face the Trojans in the first round of district playoffs.

Tonight will be the seniors' Final run with this Oak Park team. I had the chance to sit down with each of them to understand their emotions and how they feel about this playoff run, as well as their thoughts about their last time playing for Oak Park.

I was able to sit down with senior setter Alia Martinez and talk to her a little about tonight's game. "Tonight I'm gonna be running a quicker offense by changing up the plays she runs with my middles," Said Martinaz. The goal with this quick offense is to disrupt the defense fast and run away with this game. Martinez also had this to say about the emotional mindset behind this game, saying, "We're going to be as positive as we can be as we're looking for a huge upset." These girls are ready to win and bring home the first win over Park Hill since 2015.

I also spoke with foreign exchange student Viola Bergonzini about her last time playing for Oak Park and what she will miss about this team when she returns home. She had this to say about this year overall: "I really like the environment and all the activities the team does together. I never did 'team bonding' things, and I really enjoyed spending time with my teammates outside of volleyball. I think it really helped our connection." Not having school sports in Italy, Bergonzini had this to say about one of her teammates she grew really close to over these past few months: "I grew closer with everyone during the year, particularly with Alia, who really helped me feel included in the team." After this year, she will return to Italy, missing the student sections who once shouted her name over and over.

The girls have faced Park Hill twice this year, already losing 0-3 in both of those games. Yet even in these losses, the girls have slowly shown improvement and could upset the 2nd seed and have a hot start to the district playoffs.

Come watch the girls at Park Hill tonight at 6 as they start The Final run of the season.