According to junior Ivy Jones, preparing for matches involves knowing ahead of time the skills needed to face that particular opponent.

“We can know what kind of skills they’ll be doing and be able to play against them and have a feel of how they play,” Jones said. “We film our matches so we can watch it later and get feedback from our coaches about what we can be doing better.”

Captain and senior Maddy McIntosh said they are preparing for their upcoming matches by doing drills specific to the teams they are facing. As of Oct. 3, the team’s record is 5-4.

“We prepare for games by doing drills in practice based on the specific tendencies of the teams that are coming up, if there’s a really good outside hitter we practice a lot of defense,” McIntosh said.

Coach Whitney Meierotto-Simon said she believes the team has to work hard from the start to avoid getting moved down to the bottom bracket.

“Basically we have to win in order to stay in the top half of the bracket. If we lose in our first match we will go down to the losers’ bracket,” Meierotto-Simon said. “So it is really important for us to play hard.”

Meierotto-Simon said she was excited for the team to play schools they have never played before at the Hopkins invitational Oct. 6.

“I am really excited for the girls to see teams we don’t normally see. We are going to play Rogers, we never played Rogers before, and it is a high level volleyball tournament so there are going to be a lot of other good teams there,” Meierotto-Simon said.

The volleyball team played a tournament this past weekend at Hopkins High School and will return to play its next game at 7 p.m. Oct. 9 against the Hopkins Royals.