The Aragon girls volleyball team (9-12 overall, 6-3 Peninsula Athletic League) played against San Mateo (2-9 overall, 1-7 PAL) in a home game on Sept. 23. The Dons won the game in three sets with scores of 25-17, 25-21 and 25-17.
Aragon dominated the court from the start, beginning the first set with a seven point streak. Despite this season being the first for many of the players on the varsity team, they were able to collaborate and push their opponents back with powerful serves and spikes.
The third deciding set was filled with continuous shouts of encouragement from the Aragon and San Mateo volleyball coaches, and both teams gave it their best. Setters senior Gabriella Oaks and junior Jordan Lee set the ball at the optimal height for smashes. But good teamwork doesn’t come without practice.
A challenge the team is working on is communicating and building stronger team dynamics.
“We usually just talk to each other on the floor, call in or out to help each other and [to] close the seams,” said junior outside hitter Grace Nai. “With communication it definitely helps to know who’s going there. Closing seams is [when the ball] goes right between two people. So if that happens, two people [may] either bump into each other or cause a lack of communication.”
Every team member plays an important role on and off the court. During the game, loud and energetic cheers can be heard from both the bleachers and the bench.
“I just really want to be there for my teammates in this game,” said sophomore libero Kathleen Suayan. “And work hard to support my teammates in this game.”
As the team continues focusing on getting familiar with each other’s play styles, especially considering the number of new players joining the team, their performance will continue to improve.
“Volleyball is a mental game; it’s a team game. Because we didn’t play together last year, they’re still working on that part of it,” said head coach Annette Gennaro. “Our strategy is just really to be playing together as a team.”
Athletes continue to practice safety protocols such as wearing masks during games and practice which is a challenge that prevents them from playing their best.
“I just really want to be there for my teammates in this game”
“So because the cover and we have to wear these all the time, it’s really, really tough on my girls to play with the mask on, especially if you were watching when you had those long rallies they were really winded.” Gennaro said, “And coaching wise, it’s hard to yell because you can’t hear me as well. And my throat gets really dry, because I yell all the time anyways.”
Now that most people have become vaccinated, the Central Coast Section playoffs and other smaller tournaments have resumed.
“We went to Spike Fest in August, which is a huge tournament, [with] 32 [teams],” Gennaro said. “We did really well [and] came in eighth. Then we went to a Menlo tournament [with 13 teams] last weekend and again came in eighth.”
The team’s goal is to qualify for the CCS playoffs. In order to do so, they have turned their focus towards working as a team to become more cohesive and communicative.
“We all need to communicate. It’s a very big part of the game,” said senior outside hitter Jenna Garrard. “We help give advice to other people like when someone’s not doing so well, we encourage them and then we just let them know what they need to work on.”
Other than communication, the Dons have engaged in demanding conditioning and training to improve their skills.
“We warm up in the South gym and we like to do a lot of arm warm ups and dynamic warmups,” Garrard said. “We do the Coach Wu warm up which is pretty intense.”
Outside of training and competitions, a long standing tradition brings the team even closer together.
“We do Secret Sisters,” Garrard said. “It’s like Secret Santa where we just draw names in the hat and then get them the present before the home game.”
The team will compete in the Aragon Girls Varsity Volleyball Tournament on Oct. 9 at 8:00 am.
