Tatum Tricarico
The 2015 season looks optimistic as a whole new talent pool was introduced through the addition of fresh faces along with the returning players. The team’s skill-set has grown over the years, and still continues to.
“My favorite part of volleyball is getting connected with the girls and seeing how much our program has improved from my freshman year to where we are now,” junior Erika Pater said, a right side and outside hitter coming up on her second year on varsity.
“This year, mostly we have been working on a lot of passing, a lot of serve receive, but most importantly we have been working on coming together as a team,” junior Janessa Mata said. “We’re making sure that we can be a unit both on and off the court.”
The team as a whole is united under the goal of becoming stronger together, and they are sure to emit positivity and support one another.
“We are definitely a close knit group of girls who know how to work together and thrive off of eachother’s energy which really brings us up and makes us strong,” Mata said.
The volleyball girls display other strengths that will aid in the successes of the season.
“Our biggest strength is our hitting,” Pater said, “ But we are also working to improve our team dynamics, too, because that’s going to help us a lot with the season right now.”
Despite these forces that unite the team, the girls may be in for a challenging season.
“We are preparing a lot with rotations and defense and getting prepared for our league, which is a difficult league, but I think we are going to do really well this season,” Pater said.
All of their preparation was put to the test with their first match.
“We made a lot of errors throughout the match that we are going to work on and fix throughout the season,” Pater said. “ It was a good starting game because now we have that to improve on.”
Throughout all of the practice and steps toward improvement, the girls are having a good time bonding as a team.
“There are a lot of good moments in everything that happens,” Mata said,” Between the games, sets, and matches, there are a lot of good things that happen. Especially depending on the team that you have and the chemistry that forms.”
“Protect the family.” This is the motto that the volleyball girls live by, the cohesive behind the supportive structure that makes up the unit. They display a closeness that cannot just be characterized as ‘team’, but a bond that goes beyond the court.
