Despite their most recent loss to Saint John’s College High School, the Holy Cross varsity volleyball team has maintained a nearly perfect win streak this fall season.

Team spirit has been at an incredible high lately as the team has been in first place with a record of 17-1 for the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference (WCAC). As the team becomes a topic of popular conversation at school, students wonder, besides how skillful these women are, what is their secret weapon?

When it comes to changes for training the team compared to recent years, head coach Dave Geiser stated, “We’ve stopped practicing six days a week, so now the team is getting a break one day a week to recover. So that probably helps since they aren’t as tired and burnt out.” 

In terms of new techniques Geiser has taught the young women, he explained, “We have a lot of players that can play multiple positions.” He added, “So in the practice environment, we are trying a lot of different lineups which can contribute to more competition for playing time, and result in more well-rounded players.”

Although the girls on the team have been extremely successful this season, they still faced challenging opponents. Sophomore Elizabeth Itzkovich described her hardest opponents as, “Saint John’s or Good Counsel because Good Counsel’s fans are crazy so that was kind of hard, but Saint John’s is a really good team.” 

Sophomore Julianna Gray stated that for her the toughest opponent was Saint John’s, “The hardest team and the team to beat since they are like next to us in skill level.”

To have this successful of a season it is important that the team members trust one another. Evident to the womens’ growing bonds, Gray stated, “We all hold a certain respect for each other when we win because volleyball of course is a team sport, so we all know that this win did not come from one person it had to come from everyone on the team whether you are on the court or on the bench.”

Gray described the team’s unity this winning season heading into the championship, “We know it came from everybody, so when we make wins it draws us together because we know we couldn’t have done it without the other person.”