Volleyball Preview

              With the winter sports season over, we have many spring sports to look forward to. Volleyball is only a few years past their 2021 to 2023 threepeat and we have a lot to look forward to for this season. Last year ended with a loss to Elder in the state semifinals, but Senior Right-Side Sam Martin expects the team to mesh much better this season. When asked whether the team is stronger or weaker than last year he said “I think compared to last year we’re probably stronger. I think we have better team chemistry between seniors and juniors and overall, we gel better than the team last year did, and I think that’s going to be a strong point of our team this year.” This confidence in the rest of the team is why we should expect the team to make a deep playoff run this season.

              Team goals are also very important for team success, and without a goal to work towards, there’s no point. The obvious goal for volleyball is to win State, but along that road there are also minor goals to achieve. In my interview with Sam, he listed some of these minor goals: start strong, build a collaborative team, and play to their strengths. The importance of starting strong can’t be ignored. Their schedule starts out strong with Louisville St. X and Elder in the first week, so going out and competing early would make it easier to get seeded high come time for the tournament.

              Every team has challenges, especially those that have many new players. Eight of twenty players on varsity this year didn’t play at that level last year. When asked what the biggest challenge for the team will be, Sam said “Finding a lineup and a system that works best for us. We have a big 20-man team with plenty of capable players, so we just need to find a spot where everyone fits best to help the team.” Finding a place where everyone fits can’t be stressed enough. There’s no use having good players if they don’t work well together. A team is like a puzzle, and the coach’s job is to put that puzzle together with the fewest gaps possible. Teams with some of the best players fail all the time in the NBA. For example, the 2012-2013 Lakers had Dwight Howard, Steve Nash, and Kobe Bryant. Everyone expected a deep playoff run, but they struggled to find chemistry. Kobe pushed Howard to match his intensity and Nash missed 32 games due to injury. My point is that players can’t rely on pure skill to get results. Team chemistry can be more important than talent when those players don’t work well together.