The junior varsity volleyball team is looking to complete a perfect PIL season as it reaches the final two weeks of the schedule.

After a tough preseason (1-4) where they lost to two volleyball powerhouses (Benson, Grant), and faced long road trips (at Liberty), the team, coached by alumnus Nadia Aazad, pulled itself together, and now stands 5-0 on top of the newly-aligned PIL.

“We’ve just had an overall reduction of errors,” said Aazad. “We’ve improved our serving, and our defense off of serves is really tough.”

Sophomores Sara Maki and Mary Del Salvio have been the leaders of a defense that only gave up 27 points in two sets in their last game against Marshall. “Our defense really stepped up. We came out with confidence in that game,” said Maki.

This season’s performance has surprised many, after the team lost most of its games last year “Last year was hard because it was the first time playing volleyball for a lot of the girls,” said Aazad.

Aazad praised players like junior Caitlin Char and sophomore Gabbie Williams for stepping up and leading some of the less experienced players.

Now, with only five games left in the season, the team feels like it has a very good chance to finish the regular season undefeated. “We’re playing well, but we don’t have as good of competition in 5A,” said Maki.

The lower level of competition has been somewhat of an issue for coach Aazad. “We need to be able to maintain our level of competition. I find that we’ve been playing down to teams too often. That’s something we need to work on.”

Next up, the junior varsity players will try to keep their PIL season perfect at Marshall. The last time the two teams faced, the Warriors won in two sets 25-16, 25-11.