On Wednesday, October 29th, Milton Academy Varsity Volleyball (MAVB) won against St. George’s. The team continued on a winning streak of four games during a season that the Varsity Volleyball Coach Tori Perez said is “a year of resilience.”
This year’s Varsity team is composed of a combination of all grades and welcomed four new freshmen this fall. According to Addy Victoria ‘28, the 16 girls on the team have grown close. She remarked, “the team chemistry is really good, and we are all friends on and off the court, which helps us play better.” Perez largely attributes their success as a team to their strong team bond, describing how “[they] have hit that point in the season where all [their] players are starting to get more comfortable with each other.” Scarlett Cross ‘29 echoes this statement, saying, “Our team connection has gotten a lot better. We all have gotten to know each other now.” Victoria added that she believes that her team has been this successful because players have taken turns rotating on and off the court, even girls who have not had many chances to compete previously. Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach Lizz Albany commented that giving all the athletes a chance to play dispels “this feeling of starters and subs” and instead replaces it with “this feeling of teammates and everyone being excited for each other.”
Along with mentality, Perez recognizes that the growth in the team also comes from “the girls…working hard and putting in the hours to become better players and versions of themselves.”
The Mustangs’ strong chemistry and skill manifested in their game against the St. George Dragons. After winning all three sets, Perez praised their ability to “work through figuring out their opponents and working hard on the court.” Throughout the game, MAVB had great runs where the score would reflect a large disparity, including when they finished the second set with a score of 25-19. At other moments, St. George’s closed the score, such as when the teams needed a tiebreaker at the end of the first set.
However, Madison Dorcena ‘27 notes that while “a lot of people were in their heads and started losing a bunch of points” at the beginning of the season, she feels that “now, [the team is] able to get out of our heads quicker.” This mental resilience was evident during this game, when Milton finished out strong at the end of each set.
Besides clean plays, the athletes on the court were powered by strong support from the sidelines. Albany said that one team trait that stands out to her is “when we announce subs, they get excited that their teammate is going in.” She added, “it’s like ‘yes, you get a shot! let's go,’ not ‘oh, someone took my spot.’ That energy has been huge this season.” Dorcena agreed that the team's biggest strength is "lifting each other up.” Support coming from all teammates–those on the court and on the side–really fueled strong plays and impressive points that drove the team to victory. One of the spectators that attended, Violet Morash ‘29, noted that “it's a very quick paced game, fun to watch, and there's very energetic cheering from the sidelines.” As the fall season comes to a close, Perez believes that it “really goes back to that chemistry and communication”–traits that have so far carried MAVB throughout this fall season.
Albany believes that each player has learned something extremely valuable: “let things go, embrace the mistakes, and move forward.”