From liberos to setters to hitters, Maize South volleyball has had an all around successful season with a 26-8 record and in 1st place in the AVCTL Division 1 headed into the final weeks of October.

The team is preparing to get ready for upcoming regionals, and potentially state. This includes specific work on blocking schemes, serve/receive and team passing in general.

They have had three tournaments so far this season and have taken 2nd and 3rd in two of them. Their league record and strong winning percentage have put the Mavs in 8th in the 5A state rankings.

This past Tuesday night, the  team played Hutch and Newton which determined if they would be first in the league. They beat both teams in a battle with both games being three sets.

The team is led by senior players Callie Palecki, Skylar Lopez, Bella Boulnger, and Rachel Butts. Having played all four years together, their chemistry has been instrumental to the Mavs winning two thirds of their games.

Junior Avery Lowe leads the team with 62 blocks and carries almost a 14% ace percentage.

“We are practicing a lot of game-like situations and doing lots of visualization,” said Lowe.

The team has had plenty of fun and memories along the way. Outside hitter Gracie Morrow’s favorite memory was seeing the Maverick students be loud and prideful while watching the team.

“Probably our first win against Maize at their home, the student section went crazy and it was a lot of fun,” said Morrow.

A huge part of this team’s progress is the many athletes on the team, where almost all of the varsity players are two sport athletes and even three sport athletes.

“When being a 3-sport athlete, you always gotta stay positive and do anything to reach your goals,” said middle hitter Cece Young.

Coach Teri Larson has been impressed with her young roster and how they have embraced new techniques in playing style.

“The thing that is different this year than last year is last year we had a lot of older students but instead this year we have younger students. Most kids this year are 5’10 to 6’2, which is really tall, but my favorite thing this year is how my students came ready to learn new things.”