This past weekend, Women’s Varsity Volleyball won their match against Mission San Jose three sets to one. The girls have a game tonight at 7:00 in the large gym against Heritage to continue their march toward an NCS (and possibly state) championship.

The team is currently ranked first in both NCS and EBAL. Five girls made an EBAL all-league team. Lauren Utchen, Hailey Lindberg, and Natalie Brooker made first team, and Rachel Underwood and Kelly Strand made second. MacLaine Fields is an honorable mention.

All three teams had a remarkable year. Varsity went undefeated for most of their season. JV had only one league loss, against Carondelet. Freshman went undefeated the whole way through. Returning this year to lead the team to these great heights were seniors Kelsey Hirsch, Hailey Lindberg, Kelly Strand, Rachel Underwood, Lauren Utchen, and Natalie Brooker.

“Volleyball is a very mental sport,” Varsity Coach JJ Utchen said. “It has this roller coaster-aspect to it. Anyone can beat anyone on any given day. We came in second at the Deer Valley Tournament earlier this season because we weren’t mentally ready. You have to be in the moment, not thinking about the past or the future.”

Many girls on the team are also active in their volleyball careers outside of school. Several play for the NorCal Volleyball Club. Natalie Brooker is ranked as one of the best blockers in the state.

Sophomore Jackie Kupeli feels the enthusiasm and drive of her fellow teammates has led to their success.

“We’re more than a team. We’re a family,” Kupeli said. “Part of the reason why we’ve been so successful is because we strive to be our best as a unit. Under Coach JJ’s guidance and leadership, she made going undefeated for as long as we did a reality. At NCS, we plan to take it one game at a time, one point at a time, each of us doing our best to support the team.”

The team is an All-American Academic Team with an average GPA of 3.81.

The JV and Freshman teams also saw great accomplishments this season.

“We worked a lot on mechanics to begin with, and we started a little slow in the season because we tended to play to the level of our opponent,” JV Captain Becca Clemmons said. “We were like this up until our San Ramon match where we ended up beating them by convincing ourselves that we could do it. We needed to beat a tough team like San Ramon so we could recognize our greatest capabilities.”