By Helen Chizmazia – Staff Reporter

The Jonathan Law girls volleyball team wrapped up its regular season on October 27 and is getting together a strong plan of action for the upcoming postseason. 

The varsity team ended its season with a 14-6 record. The players are now continuing to practice and train for the Class L State Tournament. 

“I think that as a whole my team did very well this year,” senior captain Sydney Simpson said. “We really improved an impressive amount from the beginning of the season having basically never played together to now. Everyone gave 110% effort this season and because of that we made both the SCC tournament and states.”

The team learned from their losses and improved from game to game. 

“I am very hopeful for this postseason, and I think that our team has what it takes to go far,” Simpson said. “I think we have a good chance of going a lot farther than expected.”

Law’s first SCC Tournament game was held against Lyman Hall on October 30.The Lady Lawmen came out victorious after a three game shutout.

“As the season went on I think that practicing so hard and as much as we do really helped me to improve my speed, skill, and my vertical,” said Simpson. “I think my defense improved a lot this season.” 

Thanks to new assistant coach and Law English teacher Ms. Reed, who in her first year coaching, the JV team finished with an equally impressive record of 15-5. 

“I really enjoyed getting to know the girls on both JV and varsity,” said Reed.  “They are a special group of people.”

Reed served as the JV coach this season, helping to prepare girls for varsity and teach the fundamentals of high school volleyball. 

“Seeing the improvement the JV players had throughout the season was pretty incredible,” Reed said. “A lot of girls started to have little to no exposure to volleyball and watching those transformations happen was awesome.”

Before joining the Law community, Reed played Division I volleyball in college at Rice University. 

“Chemistry is everything for volleyball because it’s really not a sport where one person can dominate and carry like maybe in other sports,” said Reed. “There is a component in team work that is essential.”

Although team bonding activities like pasta parties were prohibited this year, the team was still able to bond through JV and varsity volleyball share players allowing them to get to know each other. 

“Our win against Foran in the beginning of the season was really awesome because the tension in the gym was really high and required a lot of composure from us,” Reed said. 

On the varsity side, the team had to overcome several key seniors graduating last year but the returning players stepped up to fill the void.

“We graduated quite a few seniors and had to fill those spots without having a lot of camps/clinics available to help our athletes improve,” head coach Ms. Loch said. “We also had girls that didn’t get playing time or very little playing time on varsity last year and stepped in to fill the roles well.” 

Loch said her favorite part of coaching is watching the team gel together. 

“When the team just clicks on the court and starts playing to the potential and makes great plays, “Loch said. “Girls progress throughout their four years or even during the season and getting to see that growth.”

Despite COVID-19 restrictions this year, Loch said the team bonded tremendously well.

“They are like sisters,” Loch said. “Both JV and varsity play on the court together during parts of practice and I feel that helps us be successful. We also do Big Sister/Little Sister and I feel that’s another way we bring our JV and Varsity closer.”

Big Sister/Little Sister is when one upperclassman is paired with one underclassman based on their position on the court. The goal of this is so that the players can form a tighter bond as well as watch and learn from one another while playing.

Loch said she loves “seeing the girls improve and get excited about things they couldn’t do before.”

Lindsay Thomas and Sandra Jaques are the other two assistant coaches who are important to the team.  

Senior Avery Fitzgerald said she will leave this season with many fond memories.

“One of my favorite memories was probably the bus rides home after a win by both JV and varsity,” senior Avery Fitzgerald said. “It’s such a good bonding moment where all the adrenaline is positive and we’re all happy with the results and how we played individually.”

Fitzgerald is a starter and middle hitter who hopes to continue her volleyball career into college.

“As the season went on I improved by attending every single practice all of my effort  into every drill in practice,” Fitzgerald said. “From just hitting lines to workout drills, I keep pushing myself because I know it’s all being done to make me a better volleyball player so giving all my effort no matter how tired I am has helped me improve a lot.”

The team practices together six days a week for two to three hours.

“As a whole I think we all really had to work hard to see what works for us and for the team to constantly be ready for change,” junior Nicolina Salanto said. 

The team will face new opponents in their state tournament on Monday, November 8, as they have moved from Class M up to Class L. Their first round game is against St. Joseph’s at Law.