“Together, win!” the girls’ varsity volleyball team shouted to raise their spirits before playing Mills, their last match for the weekend.
On Sept. 18, the team played in a tournament at Menlo Atherton. With an almost even record of wins and losses, they went into the sixth and final game feeling nervous but ready. The girls’ words of encouragement rang true as the game against Mills ended with a Falcon victory of 25-15 and 25-16.
“We could have done better, but we came really close to [beating the other] teams,” said senior co-captain Hanna Nielson.
The team believes that in addition to the skills they already possess, the right attitude is key.
“Our team needs to improve its confidence level above all else,” said co-captain Sarah Blegen. “We can’t begin a game with a defeated attitude, because that just leads to a loss.”
The team is in the De Anza League this year and played the first league game on Sept. 23 against Los Altos.
“We lost 3-0 but we tried our best,” said sophomore outside hitter Janelle Williams.
The team’s preseason record was 3-3, with losses to Harker on Sept. 16, Soquel on Sept. 7 and Gunn on Sept. 2, and wins against Pacific Collegiate on Sept. 9, Oak Grove on Aug. 31 and Kings Academy on Sept. 21 . The team has played in two tournaments so far—Menlo Atherton Invitational and Spikefest. The team won the silver division at Menlo.
“We really pushed ourselves [in Spikefest]. It was a really difficult tournament because 14 hours of playing time can make you super tired, and then we alll sped straight to the dance right afterward,” sophomore front row hitter Ramya Swami said.
Nielson has been doing all the setting for the rotations because she is “outstanding at that position” and a key player, according to coach Brad Frederickson. “Junior Gabi Emerson has taken on the role of Libero and is doing a great job developing at that new position,” Frederickson added. He complimented the team’s work ethic and positive attitude.
With the season league just starting, the team is optimistic about how they will do.
“We are still trying to work out what position each person will play, plus we lost a lot of height last year,” said Blegen. “We also really need to have perfect defense to play in such a hard league. We will see how it goes!”