On Aug. 31 the Cavs girls varsity volleyball team swept the Faith Christian Lions at home with a set count of 3-0 in their 3rd game of the 2023-2024 season.

The Faith Christian Lions started the game off with a serve. The Cavs won the point and senior Kaitlyn Dias then took over the serve.

With Dias serving, the Cavs established an 8-0 lead within 15 minutes of the first set.

The ball continued to sail over the net more than six times creating a tense environment. Junior London Hoffart, senior Sylvia Valverde and Dias all made several hits. At the end of the point Dias made a kill, hitting the ball down in a spot where the other team could not get to it.

The Cavs maintained an offensive position assuring that they had control of the ball at every moment they could. 

The team continued to make dives, passes and sets to set up the hitter to get kills. 

Maintaining their lead, the Cavs won the first set with a score of 25-19. Hoffart contributed to the score by hitting seven kills, and Dias made several aces. 

Senior Zoe Genetos said that since the team missed several balls in the first set, their goal for the second set was to have better communication.

“The ball dropped in between two people,” Genetos said.“That was the most infuriating thing to me” to me because me and someone else were there and ready to play, but we just missed that last part of connecting on who was going for it.”

The Cavs served first in the second set with Dias as their server. 

As the Lions failed to hit it over the net, Dias was up to serve again. This time with the Lions receiving, senior Mia Crowder passed the ball over to Valverde, who set the ball to Hoffart for a kill.

Throughout the second set, the Cavs continued to work together to make several plays enabling Crowder and Genetos to pass to Dias. Dias then set to one of the middle blockers for a chance to kill. 

Genetos said her role as the libero, the team’s defensive specialist, is to set up the ball for Dias to make a set and another teammate to make a hit.

As the Cavs progressed throughout the set they maintained an offensive position making several aces and kills. They won the second set 25-15.

In the third and final set of the game, the Cavs struggled to win the first point.

Despite this, the Cavs proceeded to win seven consecutive points with Dias serving, ten consecutive points scored by Valverde on the front line and six consecutive points scored by Genetos to finish the game off. 

They won the third set 25-5, securing an overall 3-0 win against the Lions. 

Despite the win, the team said they encountered many challenges throughout the game. 

“The other team’s freeballs were aggressive,” Dias said. “It was hard for us to kind of adjust to the freeballs at first.”

In addition, Genetos said that this opposing team in particular really lowered the Cavs’ team spirit and flow.

Getting the team to have a better attitude and keep their energy up high is one lasting impact Genetos hopes to make in her senior year.

“That’s my favorite thing with volleyball — you can play the worst volleyball with the best attitude and it will be the most fun time of your life,” Genetos said. 

The Cavs’ next home game is on Sep. 16 at 6 p.m. against Buckingham High School.