Girls Volleyball: Reflections on a Successful Season
BOSTON, MASS - Girls volleyball has the most successful season in years, going from winning no games last season to making it to the semifinals this past fall. As the season has come to a close, they reflect and are optimistic for next season.
Girls volleyball has had many changes coming into the 22-23 fall season. They had a new coach, Ms. Samantha Schultz, who also works as a science and design teacher at Newman. As well as having a new coach, they also had a mix of new and returning players. After the last season, they needed to reflect on strategy.
Despite these changes, the group became even closer than before and improved a lot. “Our entire team was eager, driven to win, and we were a close-knit group.” Annabel Poynter ‘24, co-captain comments. Mr. Collin Richardson, athletic director and co-coach of the team builds on this saying, “Early on, we had to learn how to play with each other and, within a couple of weeks, the team became a family”. He continues to say that since many ninth graders joined, they already knew each other and were friends and that it wasn’t long before all the team were friends.
Ms. Shultz being the coach was also a large change to the team, but she was brought in and immediately welcomed to the team. “This year we got a new head coach, so shout out to Coach Shultz, first year out of college” Mr. Richardson commented. Ms. Shultz has also given the team many strategies and game plans as a former volleyball player.
Poynter, who’s been on the team for three years, adds “The team is much more successful with Coach Schultz and Coach Richardson. They are always trying to make us better and to work harder.”
After the start of the season, it was obvious that the team was doing better than last year. “Last year, we had a lot of returning players, but we had a really difficult season, [we] did not win a game, I believe we won a single set,” Mr. Richardson commented. He continued, “In the games this year, we saw a huge improvement, not only in our team but also in the support coming from classmates, teachers, parents and the general Newman community.”
Mr. Richardson also mentioned how happy he was to see the team getting along so well. “[The team] truly wanted to be together, practice is hard enough after a long day of school so if you don’t know your teammates that well, it’s harder to get going, but when you want to be there and have fun, I think it makes a big difference.”. Poynter agreed, she stated “Playing volleyball at Newman made me a happier person in general. I always looked forward to the games and practices because it was such a great time to be able to let loose and spend time with some of my best friends. The girls on the team are like family to me, I love them.”
“The season was stressful, but also exciting. Despite the loss, our most successful game was probably the Championship game vs Montrose.” Poynter commented. The team shared several memories throughout the season, all the way until the last game. “Most memorable moments were three games for me: the second game of the season, because it was our first win in over a year, also, beating Montrose at their place. [Montrose]is a team that is always at the championships and to beat them at their home place was a confidence boost.”
“Our semi-final win against Landmark was great and to make it to the championship was incredible and we ended up making the NEPSAC tournament, first time in team history!” He also commented on players winning awards. “Another incredible moment, was to have the league MYP, Anabel Poynter, one of our senior captains, as well as having Beatrice [Rupnik ‘25], our junior win All-NEPSAC”
“I think our collective goal next year is to raise the trophy, to get that last hurdle. I would say, three goals are: to win the league, make the tournament and then win the tournament. I will say, these are very, very difficult goals but if we repeat the effort, they are achievable.” Overall, the season was very successful and the team are excited to see what’s to come.
Available in the Winter 2024 Print Edition