The popularity of volleyball has soared over the last several years. Girls volleyball, in particular, has become a very competitive high school sport. The HR Falcons girls varsity volleyball team, with a record of 8-3, is no exception to this wave of popularity.
Coached by Lou Krauss, the roster includes 2 freshman, 1 sophomore, 3 juniors, and 7 seniors. The Falcons have played a tough schedule, including a battle against Valor Christian.
“I think it’s gone pretty well, we are getting better everyday. I didn’t know what to expect coming into the season, but the girls have worked really hard and there are things we need to improve on and we’re improving on them,” said Lou Krauss, head volleyball coach.
The Falcon squad that is currently ranked 28th in the state, feels confident that their ranking has a good chance of improving by the end of the season.
“So far this season, we are doing a lot better than we expected. We did lose to Valor, but that’s okay, because it’s easier here on out,” said Jillian Borgerding,sophomore on the varsity squad.
The team’s seniors provide veteran leadership to keep the team on track, but it’s the team’s diversity that makes the team mesh. “I like playing volleyball here at HR because I really like the aspect of everyone from different backgrounds working together for the school. I think that’s a big reason we have been successful this season,” said Borgerding.
As any successful team does, the Falcons have identified their strengths and weaknesses and know there is always room for improvement. “We know the areas of the game where we can make a few errors and the other areas where we can’t,” said Melissa Evans, senior.
“In the past years we’ve had a hard time finishing games. It showed in our losses. We were up in almost all the sets and we would get into this relaxed state. We’ve finally stopped doing that and finished sets.” Evans continued.
Evidence of this improvement was demonstrated in the Falcon’s most recent 3-0 win against ThunderRidge on Thursday September 29th. The girls have 7 games remaining in the regular season concluding with their rivalry rematch against Rock Canyon.
Borgerding said, “I feel really prepared for the next set of games. It’s always a little challenging to play away games, but we have faith in ourselves and our coaching.”
Sam Mate, Staff Reporter
