Each season, sports teams have one goal, one purpose: ring chasing. Coming off a 2018 state championship, the volleyball team has high hopes for this year as well. Senior Maggie McCurdy, a first-year team captain, thinks they are “going to do really well,” and said that halfway through their season so far, the team has “only lost to really good teams, and those games helped us improve tremendously.”

In order to repeat their success from last year, McCurdy believes that they “need to all be friends with each other. We need to focus on coming together.” By forming these relationships, McCurdy hopes that their secret weapon in the playoffs will be ~friendship~.

As a team captain, the underclassmen and brand new team players look to McCurdy as an example. One of her biggest strengths as a captain, she said, is her voice.

“I’m pretty loud and everyone listens to me, but they probably won’t like me after this season because I’ll have to yell at them a lot,” she explained. Despite her yelling, McCurdy thinks that “I don’t think anyone could be scared of me.”

McCurdy also relies on other team leaders, including senior Anna Galvin. 

“Anna’s pregame speeches are truly one of a kind. It gives me goosebumps and gets the team fired up,” McCurdy said.

Galvin said that her inspirational talks require no planning as “they kind of just come to me on the spot. My brother had incredible ones for lacrosse so I guess it runs in the blood.”

In addition to Galvin and senior teammates Sydney Jatio and Sam Downey, McCurdy also credits a lot of leadership to junior Ava Pitchford and sophomore Emma Farrell, who are both on the court for the majority of the game and have years of experience. Speaking about Farrell, McCurdy said, “she takes leadership on the court, directing everybody. It’s really impressive, and I can’t wait to see what her future holds.” 

McCurdy said many people have inspired her and helped her become the player and leader she is today. 

“I really looked up to Anna Porter (‘19). She was a good leader on the court and would keep everyone in line while still being encouraging in a nice way,” she said. “I’ve also had an amazing coaching staff who has taught me many things about volleyball, but JFred [head coach John Frederick] taught me to have a good attitude about everything.”

Each season, game, and practice has taught McCurdy and the rest of the seniors how to play and how to lead, and with deep runs in the playoffs each year, they have high hopes to be back-to-back state champs.

The team is currently 22-2, and this weekend they will travel to Alabama to compete in a Catholic tournament featuring high schools across the southeast. Their next home game is Tuesday, September 24 at 5:30 against Mt. Paran.