BY RYAN WALKER
The Norwell girls volleyball team began their season on their home court, The Castle, taking on Fort Wayne North Side. From the first serve to the last, the Knights had complete control over the Legends, winning 3-0 with scores of 25-14, 25-12, and 25-13. Despite the score, coach Hunter is looking to improve from a team standpoint.
“I think it’s always good to get the first one under your belt, just trying to get some of the jitters out,” she said. “They definitely didn’t have the urgency that we necessarily want them to have, so I think we saw a lot of good things but definitely still have stuff to work on.”
The Knights are looking to continue to build their program under fourth-year head coach Kayla Hunter, where the team improved its win total from six to 11 from 2020 to 2021.
There are ten returning letter-winners on the roster this season, mainly led by a group of seniors who will do the majority of the scoring. They bring back players like Rachel Bauermeister, Claire Bailey, Grace Mitchell, Madeline McCabe, and Marlee Wenger, who were either first or second in each statistical category a season ago.
With the talent spread out in the rotation, Hunter believes that it makes them better as a team.
“That is honestly one of our strengths is that we don’t really have one big hitter,” Hunter said. “We don’t have one person that if they can shut one person down, then they’re going to be able to beat us. We definitely have a lot of talent. We have a lot of girls that are very versatile and a lot of girls that can definitely score points for us.”
As the season continues, the versatility and chemistry can get to where they want to be by the end of the year, climbing up the number of wins from last season’s 11. They finished seventh out of eight in the Northeast Eight Athletic Conference last season, but this group in particular can improve that together.
“I think they’re a group that really cares about each other, they want each other to do well, so I think it was definitely there,” Hunter said.
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