Facing off against team after team, the synergy b etween the players speaks almosttelepathically. With a few hits and a score, the girls’ varsity volleyball team advances to playoffs with a record of 10-5.
As the team prepares to face off against their opponents for the second time, they take the lessons they’ve learned to better prepare for an even stronger half. They will face College Park Oct 25, Tomball Memorial Tuesday.
“The way that we practice is a lot different,” sophomore Camille Csernik said. “[Our practices are] a lot more competitive, and this year we’re actually playing [mock games] consistently [during practice].”
The season lasts for two rounds with eight games each round against the same pool of schools. This gives each school the opportunity to compete against an opponent twice before the end of the season.
“It comes down to [which team] is playing at their best ability,” freshman Amaya Bryant said. “Going into games, everybody needs to have positive energy and a winning mentality.”
Volleyball comes with its challenges, but the emphasis of connections may be the secret to their success and following team traditions adds to their end goal.
“If we have a home game, we always start off with Fajita Pete’s. It’s our game meal. We’ve been doing really good since we’ve had Fajita Pete’s,” captain Tori Leggiero said. “We also have these game day balls that we write on and throw into the stands. We hang out as a team beforehand, get off our electronics, and try to do whatever we feel like we should do as a team.”
During the week, Coach William Jenkins has his players meet in his room during the school day to discuss future game plans. Although a math room, the board stays full of potential strategies and game plans all day. There, they watch old game videos of both their team as well as opponents.
“We will go back and watch film [of our own games] or whatever is public, or we will ask another school to send us film,” Leggiero said. “We’ll write down [their strategies] as well as whatever [strategies] we already have written down on our list, and we’ll go into practice [to apply them].”
With a team of 17 players, including three sophomores, a freshman, and a new coach, there’s no time for loitering. Despite the constant rotations of players, connection remains strong, and that’s due to a new leader dynamic introduced between both students and coaches.
“Last year we only had one senior as our main leader, but this year we have Tori [Leggiero] and Courtney [Craig] who are really close and work together to motivate us,” Csernik said.
The team has seen severe shifts in leader dynamics. Compared to years before, the team members said they now focus on constantly looking for areas of improvement, down to the smallest detail.
“This team has been the best team I’ve been on,” Bryant said. “I’ve been on a lot of teams, and I feel coming in as a freshman, they really accepted me and took me in. They just made me a part of their team, and I really love that about them.”
