The Girls Varsity Volleyball Team has now made it to the playoffs three years in a row. After defeating Sunset Park High School, Springfield Gardens, and Leon M. Goldstein High School for Science in successive playoff games, the team will face Queens Metropolitan High School in the semifinals on Wednesday.
Making it to the playoffs for three consecutive years required a lot of practice and dedication to achieve success, players told The Classic. Junior captain Emma Wu said, “[our] teamwork and communication skills grew over time as we made sure that everyone got close and had a tight bond with each other. I think that’s the key to any sport: having teamwork with all players and communication on and off the court.”
Senior captain Mila Servania said, “As it is with every season, I want us to learn and grow as players, to keep expanding our skill sets and deepening the chemistry we have with one another.”
Emma is confident that this chemistry will lead to greater success. “I have some positive lingering thoughts about the outcome. My freshmen year, we made it to quarterfinals. Sophomore year we made it to semi-[finals]. Now in my junior year, I believe that this team is capable of making it to the finals,” she said.
Senior captain Emma Lee spoke about how they can avoid missing their goal of getting to the finals: “[…] sometimes we get in our own heads. We’re working on staying calm under pressure and making sure we don’t lose focus or make silly mistakes, especially during critical points of the game.”
First year head coach of the volleyball team Spanish teacher Christian Castillo has worked alongside Physical Education teacher Gabriela Pedreros, a new Co-Coach, to lead the team to the playoffs. According to their players, these two coaches have both worked hard to help achieve the team’s goal of making it to and succeeding in the playoffs.
“We’ve just been learning a lot from the girls, from each other, from the team, as professionals as well as coaches,” Ms. Pedreros said. “I think any new thing that you step into, there’s always stepping outside of your comfort zone in some way or another. So we have learned a lot in that aspect, and we’re excited.”
As for how to continue winning, she said, “Little things we do need to work on, like our defense a little bit more. But at the moment, it’s just, you know, we show up and we do our best.”
Junior Nicole Saenz said, “[Mr. Castillo and Ms. Pedreros]… are both really easy people to communicate with and want the best for us. It was a learning process not just for us but for the coaches because we’re all learning more about the sport every day.”
Despite losing multiple senior starters, the players said that a key to their success has been the connections they’ve forged between one another.
“At first, joining a new team filled with older girls made me feel so out of place. But the whole team, especially the captains, made it feel like a place I can look forward to everyday,” Freshman Chloe Lee said.
Freshman Maggie Gildea’s volleyball journey was inspired by her sister, Kelly Gildea, a 2024 graduate and former volleyball captain. Maggie said, “I started playing volleyball because my sister started playing the sport and had a really good experience.”
Mila also joined because of upperclassmen who inspired her when she was a freshman: “[the upperclassmen] told me about the tryouts and encouraged me to come. And thanks to them, I made it on the team, and have been playing ever since.” This experience fueled Mila’s love of volleyball in both high school and her out-of-school club team, CALI.
Sophomore Keira Legaspi said “…our positive energy and support along with the help of our captains and coaches is what has got us so far. Without each other’s support our team would fall apart.”
