JV volleyball sets a record breaking performance

For the first time in known program history, the girls junior varsity volleyball team at Bishop Stang has been undefeated, and the players say they owe it to their team chemistry.

“We have good chemistry together, and that’s something you need to win,” said junior Savannah Morris of Westport. “You need to be on the same page, you need to always support each other.”

She added, “We’re very disciplined. We hold each other accountable and for every single point.”

Samantha Murphy of Dartmouth explained the team often has team dinners and events outside of school and off the volleyball court that helped them “become really close friends.”

“I think that’s what makes us a really good team,” she said.

She noted that while the players are “individually good” what makes them “really good” is their energy and how they work with each other.

Nearing the end of their season, the team has won all 15 of their games, most recently defeating Westport High School on Thursday, Oct. 16.

Olivia Moniz of Fall River said beating Bishop Feehan High School, which is widely considered the greatest team in the division and is one of Stang’s biggest rivals, made the team realize they should be able to beat all the other teams they compete against.

“If we’re not losing to them, we shouldn’t lose to anyone,” she said. “That’s kind of what we got going on ahead — if we can do what we think is the impossible then what can’t we do?”

Head Coach Erin Connolly said that at the beginning of each game she tells the girls “play this game like we played Feehan.”

She explained beating Feehan “set the standard of what we can do.”

Morris said that the Stang team “is often underestimated.”

“I feel like we’re almost like underdogs, so we use that to motivate us, and we don’t use that to put us down,” she said. “It makes us stronger.”

She said that going into the season she hadn’t been expecting much but noted that “now the expectation is that we’re going to try our hardest and we’re going to get the win."

Moniz said that going undefeated so far has added some pressure to keep the record going, but noted she thinks the team “strives better under pressure.”

“It’s more fun getting to compete, having a rally going back and forth, and that’s what makes the game more enjoyable,” she said. “That’s what gets the energy higher.”

Connolly said the team has “a lot of different classes” on it this year, consisting of a variety of freshmen, sophomores and juniors.

“When you have a variety of classes like that it’s hard to see if they’re all going to match, if they’re all going to click,” she said.

Junior Sofia Resendes of Dartmouth said that because of the number of freshmen on the team she had been a little uncertain of how the team would compete against others that consist of more seasoned players.

"I think we're doing really good working together," she said.

Connolly said, “The chemistry that this team has is unmatched. They click. They get it. It’s like they’re a well-oiled machine.”