Girls Volleyball Season Preview

Sophie Kadifa and Elif Turgut

After winning leagues last season, the girls volleyball team have their expectations set high. The Vikings have always been dominant; last year they went undefeated during the league season. Their success in leagues gave them a spot in Open Division CCS where they faced strong competition. They lost in the first round of CCS, which was disappointing for the Vikings, but qualifying for Open Division CCS is an accomplishment on its own. The Vikings have also lost a couple strong seniors from last year and junior Amelia Vugrincic sees that there are some big shoes to fill.

“Mia Gibbs (‘20) was definitely a really strong, connecting player and really strong on the court. She was on the team my freshman year and sophomore year and everybody really looked up to her, both in terms of playing and her leadership skills,” Vugrincic said. 

This season I’m just looking forward to getting to play with the school team again.

— Hillary Cheung

Although the team has lost key players, some returning players to look out for are Hillary Cheung (‘22), Hailey Callan (‘22), and Amelia Vugrincic (‘22). 

Girls volleyball is usually a fall sport, but they missed out on their fall 2020 season due to COVID. They now have a postponed and shortened season to showcase their skills. This new schedule has made it difficult for some players who are also members of club volleyball teams. These players will have conflicting schedules trying to balance Paly volleyball and their respective club teams, so we might not see the full Paly roster on the court every game. 

“The conflict with club volleyball and indoor is definitely going to be pretty prevalent, so in terms of starters, that’s kind of up in the air, but hopefully everybody comes back,” Vugrincic said. 

The Vikings are eager to finally be back on the court after months of uncertainty surrounding COVID restrictions. 

“This season I’m just looking forward to getting to play with the school team again,” Cheung said.