Even though her senior year is starting to wind down, Bailey Peach, 18, is far from slowing down.

Standing at 5’10,” Peach has been fielding questions about playing sports like volleyball and basketball for as long as she can remember. Though she did participate in soccer and basketball, it wasn’t until she entered Dartmouth High School that Peach joined the volleyball team.

“Volleyball was never offered until I was in high school so I tried it and I ended up really liking it,” Peach said.

With the support of her parents, Kim and Steven, the JV volleyball coach, Jessica Pacheco, and varsity coach Rachel Lassey. Peach stuck with volleyball and came to excel at it. Her volleyball career culminated in co-captainship alongside her friends, seniors Skylar Barthelmes and Emma Caneira, the three of whom led the Dartmouth volleyball team to their most successful season in nearly 20 years.

“Me and my co-captains were proud of what we accomplished,” Peach said. “Getting that far was very exciting but at the same time, we didn’t want to see it end. Volleyball has been my favorite thing about school since freshman year.”

The team made it to finals, where they pitted against Notre Dame Academy. The match, her final volleyball game in high school, was bittersweet, said Peach.

“Volleyball has been the source of my fondest memories throughout all of high school because I’ve played on a lot of different sports teams throughout my whole life but for some reason, the volleyball team, we always just got along so well,” said Peach. “We formed such a close relationship with each other and so it was just really fun to be playing my favorite sport with some of my best friends.”

Peach’s fondest memory of her time on the volleyball team is her first tournament game against Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational-Technical High School when she was a sophomore.

“It was the most exciting out of all of the games I’ve ever played,” Peach said. “People always ask me what sport I like better, volleyball or basketball, and I can’t really compare the two because volleyball has so much more energy and enthusiasm than basketball, in my personal opinion.”

Coach Lassey and coach Pacheco have both been a definitive part of Peach’s time as a volleyball player.

“Lassey is so involved in the sport and she puts all of her time and she puts all of her energy into the sport, and she’ll do anything for us. She’s one of the best coaches I’ve ever had in any sport,” said Peach. “Coach Pacheco is someone I can confide in, that I can talk to about anything.”

Though she’s unsure of whether she is going to pursue volleyball in college, Peach is keeping focused on the present. She’s filling her time on the Dartmouth girls basketball team for the winter season.