With a spike of enthusiasm in the air for fall sports, Wareham Week is catching up with each team to get the scoop on the upcoming season, who the players to watch are and more.

The girls varsity volleyball team is coming off of a 20 win three loss record in 2024 and Wareham Week Reporter Brandy Muz went down to practice to talk with Head Coach Allyson Collette. 

Q: How are you feeling about the season and what are the expectations?

A: We graduated a few seniors last year, so we definitely have a little bit of rebuilding — especially in passing, serve receive and our back row. But we still have a lot of good returning players. Our goal is to definitely still make the tournament and to win a few games in the tournaments. We did go up a division to division four this year.

Q: What has changed from last year to this year?

A: We lost a couple of really good players. Our libero graduated (a defensive specialist known for ball control, passing and digging skills.) and we had a couple of good hitters. But we have a good group of seniors back again with a couple of kids who have been on the team for three or four years.

Q: What are the team’s strengths and what are some areas for improvement?

A: I think our strength is probably our attitude toward volleyball. They just come to have fun. They love playing volleyball and they work pretty well together as a team — they always want to get better and to improve. We're filling a lot of holes — they're getting used to working next to each other. So we're trying to put all the pieces together.

Q: How is being close knit off the field going to translate to on-field success?

A: I don't work for Wareham schools, so I don't get to see them outside of school, it's different from the coaches who teach their players because they get to see how they interact outside of practice. The better we get along though, the better the team plays together.

Q: Who are the players to watch for this year?

A: We have Priscilla Ross, she's our libero and she's been on the team for a few years. She's a good back row defensive player — she's our captain. Olivia Lacava, she's our setter and it's her fourth year setting for our team. She's been the only varsity setter the whole time I've been here so she's really good, a lot of coaches point her out when we play against them. Johnny Tompkins, she's a good all around player. Andrew Harty, we have a boy on our team and he's a really good leader. He works really hard and every game he wants to get better.

The Vikings will play their first league game against the Westport Wildcats Wednesday, Sept. 17 at Westport Middle-High School.