GA Girls Volleyball concluded their season with a 24-3 record overall, claiming the Inter-Ac title, and setting a name for themselves as the team to beat this year. Although they fell to Notre Dame during the PAISSA Championship match, they played an incredible season leading up to it, winning all of their home games and losing just two away games to Mount Saint Joseph and Central Bucks East. They also hold the Inter-Ac championship title for the first time since 2008.
Each player has worked incredibly together to achieve their team’s success, and have shared their individual skills to the team’s advantage. Caroline Smith had 353 kills this season, Angie Wang had 109 assists, and Ellie Smith had 28 total blocks. This year’s captains, Ellie Smith ‘23, Kate Stone ‘23, Angie Wang ‘24, and Kaitlin Pokorny ‘24 touched on the highlights of this year, each emphasizing the unique team chemistry that helped them conquer the Inter-Ac and pave the way for success. Angie Wang ‘24 noted, “we had a really good returning group from last year, and we were able to have a lot of fun off of the court as well.”
Kaitlin Pokorny ‘24 also mentioned that what made their chemistry so good was that, despite the team not socializing or seeing each other during school, practice was a time where they could come together: “it worked, which was why it was so fun.” Kaitlin said that she felt that their best game of the season was Mount, despite their 3-0 loss that day. She said, “it was some of the best volleyball we’ve played in a really long time, we all played so well, and it showed us what we were capable of.” Attitude also matters, as Ellie Smith ‘23 mentioned, with their game against Archbishop Wood in September demonstrating how the energy of a team can reflect on the court. She said, “We were stressed going into it thinking that they were really good, and then we beat them in three sets, while they had bad sportsmanship.”
Additionally, the PAISSA playoff “Dig Pink” game against Baldwin was a big hit in particular, which was a special game that raised money for the foundation Unite for HER in honor of breast cancer awareness month. Kate Stone ‘23 talked about the excitement leading up to it, because they had been trying to have a fundraiser game like this one for a while.
Looking forward, the captains all hope for more turnouts to games next fall, saying that students should come out and watch, especially for home games. GA volleyball hopes to keep much of the momentum going from this year into next season as they strive to make a comeback to win the PAISSAs in 2023.