Following its second win of the season against Mercy High School, 3-2, girls volleyball remains undefeated.

Freshman Maura Hambley said the first two sets for the Mercy match were played poorly because the team is still getting comfortable and in sync with each other.

“The last three sets were the best we have played this season, but the first two sets took a long time to wake up and start playing like ourselves,” Hambley said.

The team won a reverse sweep game, which Hambley said is where a team loses the first two sets but comes back to win the last three. With the team losing the first two sets 17-25, they decided to regroup and change their strategy, junior Noa Rochkind said.

Junior Naama Green said her team’s ability to get a reverse sweep stems from its determination and motivation.

“We all decided to come together and play as a team, and bring up our energy because we knew if we lost the third set we would lose the game, so the next set was our chance to win,” Green said.

During the next three sets, the team worked on becoming stronger and more aggressive with offense by translating what they worked on during their practices into the game, Rochkind said.

“Many of our drills focus on hitting, and it takes up a significant part of practice,” Rochkind said. “We also have some plays that we have been working on implementing.”

Green said teams often win by having more skill than motivation or energy, which allows for the players to be focused on a specific goal, which can be even more important for a win.

“We learned a lot through this game,” Green said, “For example, we can’t win without energy. It is one of the most important things in volleyball; it’s not just about how hard you can hit a ball.” =

Going forward, Rochkind said the team plans to prioritize its offensive skills by setting goals and performing drills to help with serving, hitting, and taking shots on swing placement.

For defense, they are working on blocking, junior Sophie Mies said.

“Our coach, Chris Crader, always says that we should aim to be the most improved team in the area,” Rockhind said. “Aside from this, we also aim to win as many games as possible and perform well at CCS.”

Outside practice or games, the team is looking forward to spending time with one another during team bonding or at team lunches. For them, a big part of volleyball is community, and one way they demonstrate this is through themed dress-up on game day.

“We got a lot of depth, a lot of girls are stepping up their game, and we have good chemistry and a lot of fight,” Carter said. “We should be pretty competitive in our league, and it’s just to see which place we get in CCS, and try to play for a while and try to make it to Norcals, then see where we go from there.”