The girls varsity volleyball team has a difficult task ahead of them as they try to beat last year’s impressive overall 20-2 record, but the team is up for the challenge.

This season, senior captains Emma Jin, Molly Stark and Nina Gautam along with head coach Cindy Hillard will attempt to build on their successful season last year.

“Chemistry and positive attitudes were the keys to our success last year,” Hillard said.

However, These were not the only factors that contributed to the triumphant year.

According to Jin, each individual player’s dedication to the team also was vital in last year’s dominating season.

Despite having an excellent year and averaging over 10 kills per set (a kill is a successful point) the team did not win the state championship, falling to Northwest in the 4A West Regionals.

“In order to win this year, we need to have the best defensive team in the area,” Hillard said.

The players and coach know what they need to to in order to prepare for even the toughest match-ups.

According to Jin, “conditioning and repetition,” are key strategies to practice in preparation for the season.

Everyone is confident in their abilities even knowing the tough road ahead.

“Our team does not have a lot of height as compared to our opponents, but we have excellent passing and defense and we have a huge amount of heart,” Hillard said.

The team’s captains will focus on leading the team in any way they can and being a good example for the younger players on the squad.

According to Stark, she wants to show the younger players that she will never give up and keep pushing herself.

Even the younger players on the team want to learn and embrace their roles to help make the team as good as possible.

“My job, as a setter, is to set a player up where they can earn a point for the team,” freshman Serena Xu said. “I don’t feel like I’m the youngest on the team, because the team is a family.”

The team started off their season in the best way possible- they defeated Wootton three sets to one. Junior Anna Mollard led the team with four blocks, and Gautam had a team-leading seven kills.

“As expected, it was a battle and our defense beat their offense,” Hillard said.

As the team looks ahead to its upcoming matchups and the season as a whole, they will attempt to duplicate the success they had in their first game.

“We plan to win sectionals, then regionals and go to States,” Hillard said. “Each girl must better her volleyball IQ so when we meet other teams we can find the best way to compete and win.”

In their second game against Damascus, the squad again won three sets to one.

“As a team we adjusted to their plays after losing the first set and came back strategically to beat them in three sets afterwards,” Jin said.