After winning the conference championship last year, the varsity volleyball team has returned with a new head coach, and the goal of making it to the state championship, a feat they missed by a single game last year.
The team won their first three games of the season against West Potomac High School, Tuscarora High School and McLean High School, and senior Deniz Kosereisoglu believes the success is in part due to an apparent loss.
“One thing that I attribute our strong start to this year is that our strongest player wasn’t here for a long period of time and her absence weaned us off of relying on her,” Kosereisoglu said. “It pushed our setters to set to other hitters and that improved the whole team’s skills.”
Senior Jessica Lussier also believes that a change in team dynamics, which came with the loss of many of last years players, led the team to become stronger and more cohesive.
“We lost a good amount of seniors last year so we have a bunch of new people so the team chemistry is very different,” Lussier said. “I think we had a very strong start this year because we have a very strong team not only skill wise but also energy wise.”
The addition of coach Ty Hart has also led to a change in the atmosphere of the team, which is no longer as intense as in previous years.
“Our coach this year is much more laid back than our coach last year who was very technical and loud and all about winning,” Lussier said. “This year, the focus is more on stats and learning how to be a more versatile players.”
Despite the new players, the goals for the team remain just as high as they plan to surpass last year’s accomplishments.
“Speaking for the team, I think that our end goal is to get to states, seeing as though last year we were only one win away from qualifying,” Kosereisoglu said. “Even if the games are not in our favor this year, I think that our main focus is bettering our individual skills and getting better playing together instead of playing as a disjointed team.”