The varsity volleyball team [9-17] has had a bumpy start to its season but is still hanging on to its determination and is working hard to make playoffs.

“We’re going through a little bit of a rough patch, but I think that we’ll be able to break through and be able to do good things,” senior Darilynn Robalino said. “At the moment, we have a shot to go into the playoffs and I think we’re really striving for that and pushing forward. We kind of have a few setbacks and we can’t let that overtake us or overpower us.”

The team won 3-0 against Euless Trinity [9-22] on Friday, Sept. 29 but was defeated 0-3 by Hebron [28-7] on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

“We’ll get close [to winning] and we’ll kind of just fall back a little bit, so we just have to work on getting it, taking the lead and finishing,” junior Christina Cowsert said.

While the team is still training hard on court skills, the girls are aware that their cooperation, teamwork and bond is just as important as how well they can spike the ball over the net.

“I think we all have to work together, not try to be separate [players] and all be pushing the same direction,” Robalino said. “This year I think we have more chemistry on the court and we work better together. Last year I didn’t think we had that.”

With every loss the team takes, it also forces the players to be aware of what they need to work on to come back stronger for the next game.

“We are not doing as well as we would like to be doing, but with every game that we’re playing there are always some positives,” assistant coach Porsha Albert said.

Playing on the court is physically demanding, but Albert believes mentality and thought is the key to landing a spot in playoffs.

“Once [we] start believing [good] things can happen and we start applying everything that we’ve worked on, those things work in conjunction with each other and we’ll be fine,” Albert said. “We will be in a playoffs spot by the end of the season.”