This volleyball season is predicted to be extremely successful even with the recent transition into a new district. Despite only having five returning varsity players, the new team has many advantages heading into this season.

“The new district looks completely different and we have nine teams scheduled to play this season so it’s much bigger,” said head coach Melissa Southall. “We play teams in North Austin and Round Rock instead of schools such as Westlake and Lake Travis.”

The 2018 lineup is made of sophomores, juniors and seniors, with a low percentage of seniors and returning players. The team lacks the experience of returning varsity players, but makes up for it with incoming talent.

“In the 2017 season we had a squad with tons of varsity experience, whereas now in the  2018 season, we have less experienced on the varsity level,” Southall said.

In terms of success, Southall definitely sees how the 2018 team has less experience, but believes the youth is a encouraging aspect.

“Youth is a great thing, because it means they are going to get better every single time they step on the court,” Southall said. “There is tons of talent from all our classes.”

In the previous season, the varsity volleyball team was co-district champion with Lake Travis High School. Despite the setbacks of being a younger team who has not played together in the past, the players remain optimistic about the skill level and talent present on the team.

“Something that could make this season a little difficult is that we all haven’t played together,” captain Delaney Dilfer said. “We have a ton of different people who could play different positions. Coach Southall is gonna try a couple of different things which will be hard in the beginning of the season, but it will work in our favor.”

Southall believes that this volleyball team can be just as successful as previous years, and she is assured that they can overcome uncertainty by making it to playoffs.

“[The team] works really hard and I think right now were just our own worst enemy, but I want to build that up,” Southall said. “Looking from last season into this season, what I want to transfer over is building up confidence. When the seniors played last year, they were very confident.”

The volleyball team will carry many traditions into this upcoming season, adding to their chemistry on and off the court.

“The team for sure gets along,” Dilfer said. “There’s not one person that is not one of my best friends. Teamwork and chemistry is what’s going to help us win a ton of games. Last year we sang ‘Sweet Caroline’ before every single game. This year were doing ‘Dancing Queen’ from ‘Mamma Mia.’”