WHAM. A ball is spiked into the ground as CHS scores while the crowd cheers at the district championship game at James Madison High School. Varsity volleyball lost to James Madison, 3-1 in last year’s district championship. This year, the team plans on improving their season’s finish.
“My goals for the team this year is to go as far as we can, build a lot of trust with each other along the way and just have fun,” senior captain Mimi Mambu said. “We plan on achieving that by focusing, listening and trying our hardest in practice and not letting mistakes hold us back in games.”
The team has noticed a change in the grade levels of its athletes in comparison to previous years. There are no freshmen and four seniors.
“We have a strong spread of players this year and everyone has a strong part on this team and it really shows this year,” Mambu said.
Junior Sarah Kim has been on the team for the last two years. According to MaxPreps, she did not lead the team in any statistics last year, but this year, she leads the team in most serving aces with 29.
“We’ve gotten new players and also gotten better as a team,” Kim said. “We are also able to work together and focus a lot better.”
Additionally, the team has won every district game except one loss to James Madison, whereas last year the team lost district games to James Madison and Oakton High School
“Our team is much closer this year compared to last year, so we’re really good at communicating with each other and having that good bond will help us go further,” junior Julia Horan said.
According to MaxPreps, the team has been ranked as high as the fourth best team in the state. Langley, the team they lost to in last year’s regional semifinals, is ranked just above them in third. As of right now, Langley is ranked in first, and CHS is ranked as 15th.
“I’m very pleased with our team being ranked so high,” Mambu said. “We work super hard and have amazing coaches that put their all into their work, so I’m glad that it is being recognized. Our team loves to win, but we also love playing with each other and that combo will keep us going all the way to states”.
