From September until early April, State’s club volleyball team practices and competes against top teams from the area and the nation. The team may not be Division I, but that does not mean it is lacking in talent.
“A lot of our girls could go play varsity at other schools, maybe not Division I national championship level, but at the varsity level. But we just decided we didn’t want to have a varsity time commitment and this is the next best thing,” junior and co-president Dana Senko said. “You are still competitive, you still travel, you still have a team but it is less of a time commitment.”
Tryouts are held each year in September. A spot on the team the previous year is not guaranteed the following year. At tryouts there can be anywhere from 40 to 55 girls competing for twelve spots. Most of the girls that vie for a spot have a good amount of experience under their belts, and each freshman class brings in more talent than the previous year making tryouts more competitive, according to Senko.
“We are very competitive and the other teams are exactly the same way,” senior and co-president Kim Ganoe said. “I feel like we are playing a varsity sport. We are just as competitive as the varsity girls. We take it seriously. We are looking for a group of girls where our skill levels match and are able to challenge each other in that aspect.”
The leaders of the team are not only looking for players who are competitive and have skill but also have a good attitude.
“Girls need to come to tryouts with an open head,” volunteer coach Chas Bridwell said. “If you think you are going to make it because you played in high school, you have another thing coming. I don’t care if you played nationals or were in the USA Olympic team. If your attitude doesn’t allow you to help other people, and you are not open to other people and open to criticism, you might as well not even come to tryouts.”
Each year the team competes in at least two league tournaments in the area before traveling to a tournament at Virginia Tech. There they will play northern teams before moving on to Nationals the first week in April.
In previous years, State has finished in top-25 and hopes to do the same this year as well.
To prepare for this high intense competition, team members run drills and scrimmage each other at practice.
“We scrimmage to try to get more of a competitive edge in with each other,” Ganoe said. ” We throw some incentive in so if one side can not meet our goal, then they are usually required to do running or pushups or crunches, something along those lines. We are constantly challenging each other to play better, to play harder.”
Bridwell said speed drills are also an important part of practice because they help build the endurance needed throughout the long tournament days, which can last from 8 a.m. until 6 p.m.
In addition to practice twice a week and tournaments at least once a month, the team tries to do bonding activities together such as team dinners to help build friendships and the trust needed on the court.
