Set, spike, bump, and dominate. The varsity boys’ volleyball team crushed almost all of their competition in a campaign to maintain their 12-1 record as of April 18th, senior outside hitter Alex Rupprecht said.

As the team is past the halfway point of the season, they credit their early success to chemistry established last season, junior defensive specialist Chris Lee said.

“Our biggest strength is our team chemistry since almost all of us play in the same club, and many of us played on varsity last year,” Lee said.

In addition to a strong team chemistry, Rupprecht explained that even with a fairly young roster made up of three seniors and 10 juniors, the juniors bring a lot of talent to the roster whether that is through the starting lineup or coming off the bench.

“This team has a really talented bench that [is going to] come in handy [because] if one player has an off-day, we have a lot of guys with a lot of great talent to sub-in when we need [them],” Rupprecht said.

Lee also explained that even with such a young team, their mindset, will remain the same.

“We know we have a lot of talent this season, juniors and seniors combined, so our mindset is keeping our reputation as a good team and winning as many games as we can,” Lee said.

As this season is nearing the final stretch with playoffs in sight, Ann Kotsadam, Varsity Boys’ Volleyball Head Coach, explained that in order to be successful throughout the remainder of the season and throughout the playoffs, a positive mindset is key.

“At the end of the season, it is really a lot about mindset,” Kotsadam said. “Making sure the team has the right mindset going into the playoffs will lead us to where we want to be.”

Kotsadam explained that along with making it into the playoffs, she hopes the team can make a far run in the playoffs and make state.

“My goal for the team would be to win conference and make [a] further run in state [compared to] last year,” Kotsadam said.

With their sights set on state, Rupprecht said the team will have to stay locked in and beat their toughest competition: North.

“[We need to] leave everything out on the court, push each other to work our hardest, and beat GBN,” Rupprecht said.