By RYAN WALKER
FORT WAYNE — The Norwell volleyball team hardly broke a sweat in its first match of the year, defeating Fort Wayne North Side in three sets.
The domination happened right from the start, as the Knights (1-0) won the first set 25-13, the second set 25-10, and the third 25-9.
For the first match of the year, Norwell looked like it didn’t miss a beat, playing together and commanding the tempo. Its play didn’t have head coach Kayla Hunter complaining too much.
“I thought that it was a total group effort, and I’ve said a lot that we have a lot of versatility and are deep at each position, which is fun, and I thought they did a good job even when I played with the lineups,” Hunter said after the game. “They didn’t hesitate and take time to figure it out. They just played well with where they were, which is great.”
The team graduated five seniors from last year that had significant roles and lost key statistical leaders on the court, but the offseason practices and workouts showed the coaching staff that team chemistry wouldn’t be an issue and that these Knights are going to work together better and faster than they thought.
Considering this was the first time most of the girls had been on the same court playing together, the team communicated well, they were on the same page, and they were setting up plays smoothly throughout the night.
Some of the players are getting their first-time experience on varsity, too, and it was surprising how quickly they picked up the speed of the game.
“What’s kind of nice is a lot of the younger ones coming in, especially our sophomores, have been successful in the JV season last year. Maybe it is a little bit surprising to see that we did gel that well as a group coming to new people because I did look at it, and we had one returning player on the court of all six,” Hunter said.
Two goals for this year’s club are to build upon team chemistry and to have a winning record. The Knights were 16-18 a year ago but have a new identity this year. Hunter shared that the group got together and talked about goals for the season and a lot of them included being encouraging, uplifting, and having a drama-free season.
In volleyball, communication and being on the same page is crucial for success. Most plays are set up with three players on offense talking with one another and defensively all players on the court. If the Knights can figure that out quickly, they might have something.
“We definitely want to play the game the right way because even though it was a little bit of a different game, they were still trying some different things and taking some risks that they would’t have last year. It:s a competitive and really fun group, so it’s a good starting point, but hopefully, we just continue to build,” Hunter said.
Norwell will have its home opener starting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 15.
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