The 8th grade girls volleyball B team is made of Mary Callanan, Gracie Stelter, Taliah Plach, Ali Schell, Gabby Vitucci, Amira Gray, and me, Sofia Collins.  We have been working hard to be invited to the Seton Tournament which is Tuesday, October 29th at Center Court at 5:30.  As it turns out, our 6-3 record was good enough for our coach, Ms. Biernacki, to get a call to say we are invited.

Our team is definitely fighting to win this year, we had a game that went up to 30 points!  Everyone agrees that our team is getting closer with more bonding time. “I like that our team is bonding more and we know each other,” Amira said when asked what she liked about our team.  The games we play are getting more intense and we are working harder.  “I like how we are a family and try to cheer each other on,” said Gabby.

Going into the games, we aren’t the most confident, as we get down when we mess up a serve or a hit.  Now and again, we do have amazing games.  “They work together and when they volley, they have really amazing moments,” said Cristina, a spectator.  And we do have “make it work” moments, like when one of us shanks the ball, we have to get it back in bounds.  We usually win the first match and fight for the last two.

Our practice routine usually follows the schedule of conditioning, which is sit-ups, running, wall sits and occasional special exercises.  Next up is passing.  We receive a spike or toss and try to pass it to the target, who is acting as the setter.  After that is hitting (spiking). Ms. Biernacki tosses a ball to one of our setters, Mary and Amira.  Once they receive the ball, they set it to us and we approach the net and come down fast, smacking the ball over the net to the other side of the court.  After that we have serving, just practicing on our own then sometimes a game.  Lastly, we do another passing drill or something like that.  At the very end, we have a small “pow-wow” or run.

You can come watch us in the Seton on Tuesday the 29th!  We hope to have a lot of people in the stands!