Despite having an almost entirely new team, co-ed volleyball may be on the road to topping last year’s stellar season. With only four returning players, the team hopes to be county champions.

“Last year we got to the semi-finals and lost to Northwest,” sophomore Sara Chang said. “This year we will beat them.”

So far, the team has beat WJ, Paint Branch, Rockville, Kennedy and Clarksburg, but lost to its rival, Northwest.

According to assistant coach Cindy Hillard, the game against Rockville was “very representative” of what the team could accomplish this year. Clarksburg was also a “big win.”

According to Hillard, the team did face difficulties at the start of the season when trying to achieve the cohesive nature necessary in volleyball, due to the fact that a majority of the team was newcomers.

Now, as the team is working together more, newcomers, such as sophomore hitter Chris Hallock, have been a huge addition to the team.

“Even though we lost players, our team is still very strong,” Chang said.

Other standout players include junior captain Olivia Chao on defense, sophomore setter Chang, and junior captain hitter Kaitlyn Hillard.

Despite challenges, the team now works more as a unit than individuals.

“I don’t think a lot of teams can have a group of people who don’t really know each other come together and mesh as well as we have on and off the court,” Chang said.