Just because it’s Senior Night doesn’t mean there are special privileges.

Ask Seabury Academy’s Anne Stella.

“Rules are rules,” said a smiling Stella, who found herself on the bench at the start of Seabury’s lone home volleyball match this season Friday at East Lawrence Center.

But coach Tracy Kitson’s “disciplinary action” of the senior turned OK for the Seahawks

After Seabury lost the first four points of its match against Heritage Christian on Friday, Stella came in and ended the Seahawks’ suffering by serving eight straight points. The senior’s shot of confidence settled Seabury into two convincing victories, 15-11, 15-5, on a night when the Seahawks’ emotions were jacked to the ceiling of the small East Lawrence Center gym.

“I told Anne after the game, she’d be starting from the bench every time,” said a giggling Kitson. “She burst out there like a ball of fire and just carried us.”

What was Stella’s glaring violation?

She missed practice Thursday to take part in a school play.

“I knew I would miss the start,” Stella said. “It actually turned out to be good, because I was just so pumped up when things got started tonight.”

So was the Seahawks’ other senior, Janie Schneider.

“It was kind of like any other game, except the whole way through I was really nervous,” said the sixth-year Seahawk, who began playing volleyball for Seabury as a seventh-grader when the school was then under Kansas Christian Activities Association rules.

But it wasn’t the game that had Schneider’s tummy turning; it was the post-game senior speech she was dreading.

“I hate talking in front of people,” Schneider said with a smile.

Luckily for the Seahawks, speeches were their biggest problem Friday.

After that initial 4-0 deficit, Seabury  playing host to its first home game as a Kansas High School Activities Association member  never trailed.

The Seahawks jetted out to a 6-0 start in the second game and went on another 9-0 spurt to end things.

“You could definitely tell they were playing with a lot of excitement,” Kitson said. “We really haven’t had a chance to experience that this season since we haven’t had a home match.”

After the two victories came the real nerve-wrecking part for Schneider.

But much like the match, Schneider sparkled with her spoken words. She even loosened up enough to reveal her emotional journey of watching Seabury transform from a small KCAA school to competing against the “big ones.”

“I think the highlight of my career is when we went into our first tournament at DeSoto against a couple of (Class) 4 and 5A schools and proved we could play,” she said. “We were really kind of wondering if we belonged, and then we went out and beat Bonner Springs 15-0.”

While the seniors were able to control their emotions Friday, it was athletic director Brian Clyne who said he needed a bench.

“That’s why I’m over here and not up there introducing them,” said an emotional Clyne, seated on a metal bleacher along the sideline. “It’s a pretty emotional night for me to watch things end for those two.”