photo by Brooke Bohan

The girls’ varsity volleyball team celebrates after a kill against Lyman on Aug. 23. Hagerty won 3-0, starting a winning streak for the upcoming season.

The start of any sports season can bring pressure to most teams, but for girls varsity volleyball, their first game against Lyman was problem-free.

On Aug. 23, the team easily beat Lyman 3-0, setting a high tempo early in the game. In the middle of the second match the team was up by 10 when libero Mayte Camacho got a dig straight to setter Brielle Mullen. Mullen, who had 22 assists in the match, set middle Faith Walsh for the kill, one point on the way to a 25-12 win.

“I was very happy with the way that I executed [the kill]. Working on our middle and center connections during practice definitely helped us,” Walsh said.

The team won the game 3-0, not letting Lyman score more than 13 in any game. The first set was won 25-4, the second 25-12 and the third 25-13. Offensive leaders included right side Sophia Marini, with an additional 9 kills, and outside Abby Mas with 8.

“The win felt great. Everyone was able to play so it got all the jitters out,” Camacho said.

The girls kept a high intensity throughout the entire night and remained consistent with defending their side. However, serving was their only struggle during the game.

“We controlled our side and did a good job not going down to the opponents level,” defensive specialist Maddie Schwartz said. “We could have done better serving since most of Lyman’s points were from our serving mistakes.”

Their past season set some high expectations for this upcoming one—expectations that were met on Wednesday night. Last season, the team made it to the state championship game against Venice High, but they ended up losing the match 3-1. They ended their 2022 season with a record of 22-9, and some of their key wins during the season were against Lake Highland (3-2,) Oviedo (3-2) and Lake Brantley (3-1.)

“I expect us to do just as well if not better than last season,” Schwartz said. “We have a strong defense and offense so we will be a threat to most teams.”

From last season to this season the team only had a few skills to improve on, their main focus being togetherness. 

“We have improved on our chemistry,” Schwartz said. “We mostly have the same girls, so our setter to hitter connection is even stronger than before. We also bond well on and off the court.”

The team will face Seminole on Aug. 30 in an effort to keep up their undefeated season. Tickets can be found on gofan.co.