The entire court is dead silent. The girl bounced the red and black Tachikara volleyball and took a deep breath. She tossed the ball up with one hand and pulled the other back slowly, then snapped her wrist forward hitting the ball dead in the center. A crack sounded and the ball sailed through the air, the entire crowds’ eyes following it. Crossing  over the net, the ball hit the ground between two members of the opposing team. The court, silent before, now erupted with cheering and shouting. “ACE!” the team shouted.

“Playing on the volleyball team I hope to improve my skills and learn to work as a team,” freshman Cammie Marshall said. “And coming into the season, I hoped to meet new people and make some new friends.”

The freshman team forged their way to victory in the Georgetown Volleyball tournament on Sept. 5 placing first in the gold bracket though they still haven’t received their medals from it. The team is composed of 11 members all led by Head Coach Myrick and Assistant Coach Harris.

“[The team] bonded a lot in our first tournament,” outside hitter Konnar Kechely said. “We played the best we’ve played so far, and we had really good communication throughout the whole tournament.”

The freshman team has won four out of the six games so far in district against Vandegrift, Marble Falls and Eastview. The games that they lost were against Cedar Park and Dripping Springs. These games take place every Tuesday and Friday at 5:30 a.m. The team also competed in a district tournament on Saturday, Sept. 22 that they placed fourth in.

“Our chemistry has made the team a lot stronger,” middle blocker Destiny Brawley said. “Because when we make a mistake we pick each other up. The loss against Dripping Springs brought us closer together because we all knew that we should’ve beat them.”

The team practices every day during third or seventh period. The first thirty minutes of the period is study hall, and for the rest they set up the nets, warm up, stretch and then do serving and serve-receive drills. They also have morning practice Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 6:30-8 a.m.

“Everyone on the team gets along pretty well on and off the court,” Kechley said. “But when we get down on ourselves it changes the whole game so if we could drop everything once we get on the court I think our performances could improve even more.”