Southern High School volleyball team pays tribute to teammate

RACINE, Ohio (WSAZ) - Family and friends gathered Saturday afternoon at Southern High School in Meigs County to pay tribute to volleyball player Jordan Hardwick, who passed away Friday night after collapsing during a practice.

Her sister Taylor, was among those laying flowers at Jordan’s senior poster Saturday.

“Her laugh and her smile and her coming to me and saying, ‘Sister look what I got,' or 'I know you’re here, where are you?’ or just saying ‘Sissy’ or ‘Hey sister’ where like just her voice,” Taylor Hardwick said. “I’m just going to miss that the most.”

That voice now missing from a team that looked up to the strength and determination her teammates say she gave.

“(She was a) leader,” said teammate Cassidy Roderus. “That’s all I can say. She was one of the most important people on the team. Everybody looked up to her. Everybody wanted to be like her.”

“She meant everything to me,” said teammate Krystal Holley. “Like I wanted to look up to her. She was my role model, and yet she probably didn’t know it, but she was my role model.”

Superintendent Tony Deem says that volleyball activities will be cancelled for the next week.

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