As trees turn from green to amber and the air becomes crisp, that means one of the biggest fall sports of the year is starting up: girls volleyball.

The team this year is as powerful as all 14 players—three of them being freshmen—have already made progress on their journey to play like a team instead of six individuals. Last year, Payton Milo coached the freshman team and this year, she was promoted to JV. This change is beneficial to the team because she is familiar with the players as she was exposed to most of them for a whole season.

With sophomores Kinzi Tilton, CC Rodriguez, and Mia Stibitz returning to JV, they have the experience to help their new teammates. This talented group of girls began their season grind on August 8, and since then, they have had a quad at East Kentwood and went 1-3. The beginning of their season was a little shaky with execution to finish games; however, they know how to play as a team and will bounce back by outperforming their competition.

Touching base with the topic of team chemistry, sophomore and middle blocker Avery Koehler stated, “We have room for improvement; however, we are growing as a team and as individual athletes.”

When the freshmen who made JV were notified of their team placement, they were all shocked. Addyson Quinn is one out of the three freshmen on JV. Addy is a right side hitter and has been playing volleyball for four years. She expressed her excitement about the season by emphasizing, “I like the intense and fast-paced tempo, my teammates, and the motivation my team has.”

Currently, their starting six players are sophomores Ella O’Connor, Mia Stibitz, Avery Koehler, CC Rodriguez, Kinzi Tilton, and Kaitlyn Childers. The biggest threat offensively is Ella who is an outside pin hitter. Defensively, the powerhouse is the libero, Kinzi Tilton. Teams should be weary against the JV Rangers. They aren’t here to mess around this season; they mean business.

Their next game is August 30, at Battle of the Hills hosted at FHC. The 5 p.m game is against FHE and the 7 p.m. game is against FHN.