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A movie moment

Meghan Bartlett | Catholic Herald Editorial Assistant

Senior Taylor Wilmot plays varsity volleyball at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria. MATT RIEDL | CATHOLIC HERALD

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Taylor Wilmot described it as a movie moment, the first time she
saw a teammate in the gym after six months of separation following the lockdown
that cut short her volleyball club season in March 2020. 

“We ran up to each other like out of a movie and gave each other
a big hug” said Wilmot, a senior at Bishop Ireton High School in Alexandria who plays for her high school team
and a traveling club team, Virginia Elite. 

In a normal year, Wilmot, who has played volleyball since third
grade, has a packed schedule, with the high school season running from August
until November, when tryouts for her club team begin. 

After a summer of lockdown, team workouts on Zoom and bumping the
ball with her younger sister, also a volleyball player, Wilmot entered her
senior year with an uncertain season ahead. The school began to allow in-person
practices through the fall, but students only could attend the days they had
in-person classes. With the hybrid model, that meant the team never had its
full roster at a practice.

In the spring, she got a little taste of a senior season when the
school permitted a modified schedule for fall sports. The team played three
games in front of a handful of people in person, including her parents, as well
as friends and family who watched the livestream. The team went
undefeated. 

“Being able to play with pretty much the same girls the past
three years has been super special,” she said. “I know a lot of girls that
didn’t have a senior season at all, so I’m just really grateful we were able to
make something work.”

After graduation, Wilmot will study law at the University of
Arizona with a Navy ROTC scholarship and then join the U.S. Navy as an officer,
the first woman in her family to join the military.

“I always kind of had that desire to serve my country,” she said.

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