A new season, a new team and a new beginning for Heritage’s 2017 Varsity volleyball team.  With high hopes to win league, they’re pushing themselves to work harder than they ever have.

“This season will be really exciting for me and has given me the opportunity to step up to the plate as a leader and hopefully win league this year” said Kaitlyn Peterson (12).

Team Captains Kaitlyn Peterson (12), Grace Stahli (11) and Cierra Pope (11) are predicting that they’ll have a great season and that by the time league starts, will be prepared to fulfill the past legacy’s that Heritage volleyball has been known for.  Three times in the past five years, Heritage’s volleyball team has come out on top in the league and advanced to NCS.

In 2014, the team even went undefeated during BVAL.  All of these huge achievements have been led by the same coach since the school opened, coach Hannigan.  This season they’ll clash head to head with their rivals, Liberty, who seems to be doing really well in their pre-season, winning most of their games.

Recently, they’ve participated in the Deer Valley Varsity Invitational and one pre-season game against Moreau Catholic High School.

The team lost in three against Moreau, who finished last year at 9-5 and is currently 2-3.

The game was a good learning experience, however, and gave new players, Emily Struass, Emily Sobelik, Cameron Grant, Emily Kamney, Mckenzie Christopulos, Sos Taumoepeau and Bri Cabral time to meld as a team.

“Pre-season has had its ups and downs, but we’re all really excited for league to start and to have the support of our peers cheering us on” said Emily Sobolik (11).

The pressure is on the twelve girls to perform to their best and even more pressure is on them to win league.

“This season may be exciting, but with the excitement and intensity of the games, also comes stress and pressure to perform to our fullest no matter how we are feeling that day, hard work pays off” said Emily Strauss (11).

Heritage’s “Seventh Man,” an informal group of students known for showing up to home and rivalry games decked out in spirit gear and dedicated to supporting HHS teams, has big plans for this volleyball season.

“[The Seventh Man] is already planning…to get even more students to participate in the volleyball games by engaging more students with things like showing up spirited, making fatheads and posters” said Zachary Hanson (12).

There are only high hopes for the 2016-2017 volleyball season and all of the student body will be on the sidelines cheering and chanting them on till the end.  The team won their opening game against Freedom in four sets. The next upcoming league games are September 29^th against Pittsburg at 6 and October 6^th against Deer Valley at Heritage.