Fluvanna County High School’s Volleyball teams are nearing the end of their 2016 Fall Season. As of Oct. 28, Varsity’s record is 12-11 and JV’s record is 9-5. Varsity is led by long-standing Coach Christi Harlowe, and JV is coached by Susan Shields, who was previously the assistant coach.

They are mostly older team, including seven seniors, five juniors, and three sophomores. “We’ve had our ups and downs, but we have a very versatile team with players of varying skills,” said Sophomore Hannah Ledford.

So far this season, the varsity team has played in two tournaments and 23 regular season games. They beat Louisa, Charlottesville, Orange, and Monticello, but fell to Western, Powhatan, Albemarle, and Turner Ashby. “We are doing pretty well, but there’s always room to improve. The good thing is that we are a close team,” said Sophomore Katie Morris.

Indeed, varsity not only bonds in practice but also bonds off the court. The team meets up at Coach Harlowe’s house to spend quality time with each other to build friendships and just hang out. When asked how the team compared to the previous season, Senior Amanda Harris said, “As a team we do a lot more team bonding, which helps us work well together on and off the court.” Harlowe also insists the players watch films of their previous games to learn what skills they need to improve. “We are still progressing, we are still getting better,” said Coach Harlowe. Varsity had their first Conference game Oct. 31 against Fort Defiance.

Meanwhile, JV is ending their season having played in fourteen regular season games. They beat Western, Louisa, Charlottesville, Orange, and Powhatan, and only fell to Western, Powhatan, Monticello and AHS. “Beating the best team in our division [Powhatan] sure boosted our confidence,” said Sophomore Mckenzie Wills. With a number of new players this season, the team contains six sophomores, five freshman, and three eighth graders. “We started off new to each other, but being four games in, we now play as a team,” said Freshman Mckenzie Moore.

Although varsity and JV may be separate teams, they are not separate at heart. During practices, all the players warm up together and then break into different drills. For the first part of practice the drills are more game based to get the players motivated, while for the second part the drills are more specific to skill.

During JV games, varsity watches to cheer them on, and JV helps Varsity warm up for their games. The volleyball teams also use a sister program. This is when every player has a big or little sister from the other team. By doing this the players build a deeper friendship with a player in the volleyball program. The sisters write each other notes and give one another a snack or Gatorade. “It makes us united as a program instead of two different teams, and it opens up friendships,” said Harris.