In an attempt to overcome the obstacles the girl’s volleyball team might face during the season, the players and coaches strive to always put their best foot forward during practices and games this year.
Girls volleyball coach Cori Watson describes the girls on the team as “productive” and “eager to learn together.”
“The girls have a really strong connection this year, they get along really well,” Watson said. “My favorite part about this team is just how excited and eager to learn they are together.”
According to volleyball team captain Lauren Vince, the most critical aspect to the team’s success is keeping a “positive attitude.”
“Even when we’re not winning, we still need to have a really positive, high energy to keep us happy throughout the game so we don’t get in our heads,” Vince said.
The team’s connections with one another greatly affects their performance during practices and games.
“I would say what brings us together is definitely how close we are,” Vince said. “We’re all best friends and it’s really fun to play with each other.”
“Our biggest strength is probably our relationships with each other, it makes it more fun to be together,” said freshman Peyton Vanbuskirk.
Through constant effort and enthusiasm, the girl’s volleyball team comes together on the court to ensure their success.
“Anytime that they step on the court it’s kind of the thing that can rally them together and help them to play with and for each other,” Watson said.
Despite the different players’ ages, Vince believes that the whole team views each other as equal, and trusts each other.
“We’re all best friends, like one big friend group. No one is scared to say anything, or to step up and be a leader,” Vince said. “We all know that we can trust each other on and off the court.”
According to the team, energy also plays a big role in their progress throughout the season. In hopes to succeed, the team must have high energy.
“I feel like whenever we’re winning or losing we just have to have good energy throughout the game,” Vanbuskirk said, “and it could possibly help us persevere through the season and I think it brings the team closer together.”
Vince believes that the most difficult challenge the team has faced is maintaining a positive energy.
“We just struggle keeping energy the whole time,” Vince said. “A lot of the time, even if we start to lose by just a few points we just get down in our heads and then it’s like we can’t uplift each other.”
Due to the number of seniors who graduated last year, underclassmen had to step up and take on new roles.
“Last year we had five seniors who graduated. They were pretty significant players as far as our starting line ups and our regular rotations,” Watson said. “We’ve had a lot of growing to do and there’s been a lot of players that are in new roles this season.”
Vince also has a positive outlook on different grade levels interacting.
“Our two main hitters last year were seniors, so it’s nice to see we have sophomores hitting outside of practices. I know they are not normally used to playing with older girls [but] they’re doing a good job at filling in the defense positions too,” Vince said.