The BSM volleyball team has an uphill battle ahead of them this season.  With only three returning varsity players, senior captains Paige Mazal and Emma Sather, along with junior Hannah Miller, the team has their work cut out for them.  “It has been a little bit of a rough start, but we have a lot of young girls so it has kind of just been tough finding the team chemistry,” Mazal said.

The team started off the season with losses to two major adversaries, DeLaSalle and Holy Angels, and a 3-7 record. “It’s a learning process and we’re getting there,” Sather said.

The team had offseason practice throughout the entire summer.  The coaches, Phong Luong and Ashley Whitman, have been working the team hard.  “I definitely think they practice tough love, but it really helps you grow as a player,” Mazal said.  

Along with the coaches and the captains, juniors Anna Luong and Hannah Miller are going to have to step up and help lead the team.  “They both just kind of need to help us seniors be the leaders out on the court and help the younger girls see what it is like on varsity and what it takes to be on the team,” Mazal said.

A game against Orono, one of their major competitors, is coming up in three weeks and the team is hoping to come out on top.  They defeated Orono last year when the teams last played each other and have been training to defeat them again this year.  “I definitely think that it is going to be a tough game,” Mazal said.  

They have been practicing vigorously to defeat them, but it won’t be an easy task.  “We play like we practice, so we are just trying to make sure that we are really putting in our time day in and day out so that we get the results for it,” Mazal said.

The team has to adjust to the major roster changes if they hope to be successful for the rest of this season.  “I think right now we just need to develop team chemistry,” Sather said.  

With mostly new players, setting up the team for future years will also be important. “Paige, Hannah, and I, who have been on varsity, are hoping to encourage the young girls to not be afraid to speak up and be their own player,” Sather said.