Volleyball Starts Their Season with Complications

Students fall sports season is approaching and volleyball was finally told they would be playing with many different altercations, but the girls remain positive for the season.

As the season approached it was known as a high-risk sport since it would be played inside. The topic of maybe pursuing the sport outside was introduced by players and taken into account by higher authorities like the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC) as a way to get some playing time. Senior captain, Maura Zettergren shares, “ There are many other factors that would affect how we play; I prefer to play inside.” She explains her concerns about the many things that would affect how the sport would be played if that was the path taken. Zettergren’s wishes arrived when it was announced that volleyball would in fact be able to play inside, but a catch came with it. The girls would have to play with masks on. Online on either Instagram or Twitter, you see many videos of people arguing to wear masks just to walk around the store, but now the team has to run, jump, and dive around the court with something that can affect their breathing. “It is very difficult playing in masks and will definitely take some time to adjust,” Says Zettergren again, “ I think it will take a couple of games and practices till we can be at our normal performance levels.” She brings a positive outlook to the matter and has hopes that it will get easier as the team builds up their endurance. The girls recently had their first week of practice this past week and they have been finding it hard to play as they normally would. Girls such as Katie Grenier, Hannah Nielsen, and Maggie Jaskot gave a quick word on how they were feeling, all of which expressed how hard it was for them to “catch their breath” on the court and be able to communicate as they normally would. “Volleyball is a very loud sport and filled with communication,” says sophomore Hannah Nielsen, “It’s hard to communicate with teammates on the court like we used to.”
The girls have their first scrimmage coming up Tuesday, September 29th against Sheehan High School. With their spirits high they hope to sort out the missing pieces and have the best season under these hard circumstances.