As summer comes to an end, the volleyball girls begin to work as a team and individually to move past the difficulties of last year so they can succeed, according to varsity coach Whitney Meierotto.

Meierotto said one way the team is working on improving its skills is learning from their mistakes.

“I think that good things happen when we have fun and when the girls aren’t worrying about making mistakes because we all make mistakes. We just grow and learn from each of our mistakes,” Meierotto said. “Being so young and having so much talent, they’re going to grow and develop and it’s going to be really fun for us.”

With five teams this year, the girls are able to have more playing time and are able to improve on their skills, according to Meierotto.

“I believe that the best way for girls to learn and develop is to get them more experience playing, so we made a bunch of teams so they could all get a bunch of playing experience,” Meierotto said.

According to returning sophomore varsity player and captain Ella Trotter, the varsity team is not very experienced so this season will be about improving as a team and individually.

“We are a very young team so although we have a lot of talent, none of us are all that experienced and this year is about getting into a good rhythm so we can dominate next year, which will be our climax year,” Trotter said.

According to sophomore captain Kim Lindgren, the majority of the girls last year were younger, but this year will be a time to build the team.

“Last year I was on varsity, and my team didn’t do so well due to our young age and we were not very experienced playing at the varsity level. Four out of six starters, including me, were rookies last year,” Lindgren said.

According to senior captain Mackenzie Evenson, last year there were some issues with girls being left out which caused a lot of drama, so this year Evenson said she is working on including everyone.

“My goals for this year is to bring the association together because in the past we have had issues with younger girls being left out of things,” Evenson said. “I really would like them to feel welcomed and let them know we support them.”

Summer activities such as sand volleyball have helped the team grow closer. These bonding activities will help on the court and help strengthen the team, according to Evenson.

“This year will be different from the past because we are all a lot closer and we know that no one will be backing out in the middle of the season,” Evenson said. “We’ve all grown closer to each other so we know our weaknesses and we’re working on improving them every time we can.”

According to Patterson, the team has faced a lot of head injuries, such as concussions, this past year. These injuries made playing difficult as all of the teams were switched up due to number loss.

“(The injuries) made it really hard to play because the girls you are used to playing with are out and you have to rearrange as a team to make up for them,” Patterson said. “It was really hard because you’re so used to trusting the people around you and knowing how they play, so when you switch up people, it’s disorienting”

This year the coaches are practicing how to play safe so there are less injuries, according to Meierotto.

“We practice safe volleyball and being cautious of when we’re working on hitting, that none of the girls are crossing in front of the net,” Meierotto said.  “But also just helping them understand where they need to be on defense to be in better position so they can make plays without getting hit.”

With more experience and less injuries the girls are coming back with more energy and with a more positive attitude, according to Lindgren.

The team’s next varsity match will take place 7 p.m. Sept. 3 against Minnehaha Academy at Park.