Middle school to high school transition can be difficult, especially for sports. Annabelle Edwards, libero, on the girls freshman volleyball team has had her ups and downs but has made a smooth transition into high school volleyball. 

Team captain Haley Vineyard and the rest of the team have had to bond together using their same experience of coming into high school volleyball. The team has so far done very well this season, winning seven of the 11 games they have played.

Bonding with a team can be difficult especially when no one knows each other or how another person plays. Annabelle Edwards said that it had been difficult to get her team to bond with each other.

“Some people it’s harder because like they don’t get along, then others get along good,” Edwards said.

Playing volleyball as a high schooler can be very different from a middle schooler. However, Vineyard has not had a difficult time adjusting to the new pace of high school,

“It hasn’t really been like different really, but I feel like the teams we play against will be a lot harder and a lot more skilled,” Vineyard said.

Edwards and Vineyard have played club volleyball in past years, both have continuously had to continuously adapt to different coaching styles. Vineyard said she likes her coach this year and that he is very nice yet shows his support in different ways than other coaches.

“He doesn’t really like show support like on the court, he just tells us what to do and where to go. He’s emotionally like really different from other coaches,” Vineyard said.

“My last coach he was like more interactive and would yell a lot more. Then my new coach he’s a lot more nice,” Edwards said.

The team finally has started to bond since starting to play games. They have grown much closer and they are playing much more like a team. Edwards has said how their team has started to grow closer.

“More towards the middle is whenever we started playing games and we started becoming friends,” Edwards said. 

The girls this season have been doing very well and hope to continue playing well throughout the rest of the season. They have many more games and tournaments that they are excited for, Vineyard has said how the team’s big goal is to place well in districts.

“We’re super excited for Districts, and we just want to win because winning is fun,” Vineyard said.