Heading into the 2022 season the girls freshman volleyball team faced a big problem: there was no coach. They continued to face this problem all season long. The girls would have different coaches, for different games, in the same tournament, on the same day. They were even practicing without much direction, so not much was expected of the girls. Luckily, they beat the expectations they wanted. They started winning a lot around the second half of the season, as the head varsity coach began coaching them in duals.

With very little direction in practice, the girls were not expected to get much better. However, the exact opposite happened. Starting the season poorly, the girls turned it around in the second half even winning a tournament in Grand Haven.

Star player Georgia Miller expressed her gratification in her team’s chemistry. “Our communication and teamwork helped us improve most through the season.”

With this improvement, the girls headed into the conference tournament looking better than ever. Making it to their rival team FHN in the finals, and having beaten them twice before, they were looking for another win. Despite playing well, the team ended up losing a nail-biter of a match.

Even after losing to a team they beat twice, the girls made massive improvements from the first half of the season.  Going 1-6 in the first half of the season and 6-4 in the second half, their breakthrough was shown at the halfway point having a winning record for the second half of the season.

Commenting on the turnaround, libero Clare Knoester said, “The bond we made later in the year led to much better teamwork and made the process to get better overall more enjoyable.”

As is definitely shown, the teamwork aspect of the team was the key contribution to their success later on. Not starting the season with a coach or practice plan definitely contributed to that, but despite this, the team worked through it and improved anyways.

This loss to end the season does not speak for it as a whole though. Another key player, Malia Mckenzie, spoke on the season. “It was super fun and we got a lot better as a team,” she stated. “We all improved by a lot, both individually and as a team.” Her remarks just go to show that everyone improved and they had a blast while doing it.

Even though the team ended things off with a loss, the season as a whole is still successful. Not a single other team had to overcome the obstacles this one had. Having more coaches than players through the season, it’s safe to say the girls had a great season and are looking at an even better one next year.