Girls Volleyball

Serving the competition

Girls volleyball team takes victorys and heads towards big success

Benjamin Grantonic grantben000@hsestudents.org

Despite disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic, the girls could probably tell you how we will react to certain situations, and I think that’s a good thing. volleyball team has seen notable improvements as a team compared to previous seasons. Head coach Steven Peek shared how his team had a strong season despite COVID. “Certainly what I’d hope is the hallmark of how good we can be is that something even like a global pandemic doesn’t a ect us,” Peek said. “You know, that’s not always the case, and certainly last year, even though we didn’t have anyone miss any time thankfully due to COVID-19 or whatnot, we were still a ected. Our rst three conference matches all had to be rescheduled because of COVID issues with the opponent, so you just have to be able to adapt and play the schedule, and I thought we did a good job of that last year.” e varsity team has seen notable success, with them taking wins in matches against top-rated teams, according to Maxpreps, like Mount Vernon and Brownsburg. “I think the most important thing I can do as a coach, or any of our coaches can do, is bring consistency,” Peek said. “ e girls ey know how consistent our leadership will be, and the things we have some exibility on and the things we draw a line in the sand about.” Leadership on the team does not just come from the coaches, with student leadership also being a stated contributor to the team’s current string of victories as of early october. “We have a great group of captains, certainly many talented people in our program,” Peek said. “If we are training to be competitive, and training our brains to improve and play better than we were in August, then usually I’m a pretty happy camper, and I think we are on the right path.” ough it is not just training and leadership that brings victory. Senior Samantha Perdue also attributed the team’s success to how the team worked together well. “I think our team chemistry this year has been unmatched [compared] to all the other years I’ve been here before.” Perdue said. “I think as a team we get along super well, we gel and our team just clicks on the court and o the court,” “We have all been ready to go, excited, so I think at practice we all go hard and we do our best and give everything that we can.” Junior Ava Vickers agreed with the idea that the team’s collaborative nature was a major contributor to success. “I think part of [our success] is how much we are trusting each other and trusting our passers and hitters and setters, and it just helps with coming out with a win.” Vickers said. Coach Peek shared how thankful he was that the team even got to play seasons during the COVID-19 pandemic, and agreed that it was the players who made these season’s successful. “I’m really happy. Last year, I was happy we got to have a season and kind of had to raise the bar and realize, ‘Okay, the season is here. We need to still do what we normally do and be competitive and be great.’ I’m really glad, once again, though. I’m thankful for this season because of the great seniors and generally group of girls we have,” Peek said. e girls volleyball team has an upcoming home game on Nov. 2, as well as having a conference game on Oct. 26.