From skills and drills to whistle blows and liberos, volleyball is a sport filled with competition and trust. A team needs to be able to communicate effectively and respond to the other players on the court.
Over the summer, the volleyball team attended a camp at the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) to hone their skills and refine on-court communication, learning to work together to send the ball soaring over the net.
“[We practiced] working as a team mainly, because we had just started,” Khloe Woods (11) said. “We hadn’t really done anything volleyball-related together, so [we worked on] finding that groove with each other.”
This experience was the first time the team had played together since the end of the 2024-25 season. Attending the camp at Ole Miss allowed them to prepare their minds and bodies to work as one team.
“I think [the team gained] communication [skills] and [learned] what we look like because we didn’t practice with balls before that,” co-captain Kiersten Armour (12) said. “When we went to Ole Miss, that was the first time we actually got on the court together to play.”
At any point in a game there are six players on the court for each team, all with different responsibilities that bounce off of the others. As such, collaboration is a necessary skill. As a whole, the team expanded their knowledge of each other and their capabilities on the court from their time at Ole Miss.
“We kind of realized each other’s strengths and weaknesses so now we are trying to build off of those and form around them,” Woods said. “If one person is falling short in this area, we’re trying to help them grow in that area.”
The volleyball team was given the opportunity to examine the Division 1 Ole Miss volleyball team’s skills and abilities. As an individual, Armour learned more about herself and her own playing habits from observing the higher-level college athletes.
“I did learn to wait,” Armour said. “They let us watch the college players play, and I was watching them approach, and they would really stop and wait on the ball and then they would speed up and go. And I was like, ‘You know what? I’m going to try this.’”
Going to Ole Miss gave the team a chance to not only view the skills a college-level volleyball team possesses, but also learn more about the mechanics and demands of being a college athlete. For co-captain Angel Edwards (12), attending this camp prompted her to further consider continuing to play volleyball in college.
“Just seeing the dynamic of a team at that level and asking the questions of how they balance life, I feel like, personally, that I can handle that,” Edwards said.
Having the opportunity to play as a team over the summer allowed the team to address any underlying issues before the season began. It also allowed the team to begin to function and bond as one unit.
“Of course we played as a team, but [we had to find] that connection to play with each other,” Edwards said. “And I think [the camp] really did give us that connection to go into the season.”