After being defeated by Glenbrook North on Friday, April 7, the Glenbrook South men’s volleyball team is looking to bounce back and improve before the playoffs. According to head coach Tim Monahan, playing together and working hard will determine their success.

According to Monahan, the team needs to focus on limiting unforced errors and improving their efficiency on offense. After the team’s 2-2 start, Monahan said that they need to focus more on communicating and playing together as one well-balanced team. He said that they are going to slowly build towards the end of the year and the playoffs, and he believes that if they do this, they will challenge most of the teams that they play this season.

“We need to worry about ourselves, and playing as clean as we can, cutting down on unforced errors,” Monahan said. “If we do that we’re going to keep building.”

Monahan is optimistic about the season and believes that they can reach their goal of becoming a team that consistently plays together. After a tough loss to Glenbrook North 25-17 and 25-16 in two sets, the team was able to win their next game against Prospect to even their record. He said that they can get to where they want to be by the end of the season through hard work.

“Cohesion, playing together, working hard… that’s always our goal,” Monahan said. “It really is, because if we’re doing that, it builds on potential successes, and part of that is wins.”

Monahan also expects leadership out of all of his seniors. According to Monahan, senior Jack Sullivan has taken the role as a leader on the team this year. Sullivan is looking to grow not only as a volleyball player, but also as someone that can make the team more cohesive and together.

“I’m a leader on the team, so it’s my job to make sure everyone does what they’re supposed to do and everyone is in the right frame of mind to have success,” Sullivan said.

With many younger players on the team, senior Nic Cavallaro believes that leadership from all of the seniors is essential. He hopes that the seniors’ leadership can help this year’s team can improve and make it further than they did last year.

“I want to make the team better and lead the team because we have a lot of young guys, so I think it’s important that the seniors show them the ropes,” Cavallaro said.

Along with helping the team get better, Cavallaro hopes to go all-conference with his improved passing skills. He started off playing as a middle blocker where he was not looked on to pass the ball as much. Now he is an outside hitter, which means he is expected to pass a lot more.

He has worked hard throughout his time at GBS to improve his passing ability.

“Once I became an outside, I really had to work on my passing, so that’s the part of my game I have worked on the most,” Cavallero said.

Sullivan and Cavallaro are both looking forward to their game against New Trier on Wednesday, April. 26. According to Monahan, this is a game they can use to see how they compare to one of the top teams in the Central Suburban League.