On Tuesday, March 22, the varsity boys volleyball team will play their first game of the season at Ft. Zumwalt North. This years team has high hopes as they did last year.

“The goal is state, reaching the state tournament is what we plan to do,” senior Jacob Drum said.

This years team believes that they have the experience and the skill to go far in the postseason. There are six seniors on the team as opposed to the two last year. The seniors on the team are Austin Price, Landon Porter, Conner Malpiedi, Jacob Drum, Cameron Landers and Chase Powelson.

“ We’re different this year because we’re predominantly made of seniors whereas only two last year,” Drum said, “This teams going to have more leadership and more chemistry since we’ve played together for four years.

On top of the experience and chemistry the team has a lot of skill and athleticism. To improve their game many of the members of the team play club volleyball and those who don’t play multiple sports to stay in shape.

“In the offseason we’ve been practicing in open gyms, and doing extensive training,” senior Austin Price.

The team wants to avenge their upset in districts last year. They were the second seed in the district tournament and were beaten by the lower seeded Lafayette.

“[someone on the team last year] crushed the ball out of bounds when he should’ve just tipped it over, because he played volleyball like the thing outside a car dealership that flails around. That cost us the game at 23-24. It’s like we lost on someone airballing a free throw,” said Price.

That loss obviously frustrated the team and is an event these seniors haven’t forgotten.

“It really pushes us harder so that we don’t make the same mistakes,” said Price.