Girls' Volleyball Sets up for a Slamming Season
By Addie Burns (Staff Writer)
Coming off a tough 2021-2022 season, the Samo girls volleyball team hopes to get back to their pre COVID-19 success. Last year the team finished 2-14 for their total overall games played and 1-9 in their official league games. This season, they are trying to match the 2018 and 2019 seasons where they ended 9-1 in league both years.
Returning seniors for varsity include Catrina Zolkin (’23), Grace Neumann (’23), Dylan Spanier (’23), Sophie Christmas (’23), Scarlett Mickel (’23), Violet Rist (’23) and Aika Hughes (’23). The captains this year are Spanier, Zolkin and Christmas. Rising players for the 22-23 season include Bibi Peterson (’24), Cherysh Henley (’24), Anastasia Rho (’24), Emerson Werger (’24) and Jane Robinson (’25).
Liane Sato, the varsity head coach, reports on the team's goals for the upcoming season.
“We are in the toughest league so our goal is to take advantage of the opportunity to compete against the best teams in the state. The Varsity team is excited about competing against the best teams and continuing to create a positive and exciting culture for our younger players,” Sato said.
Samo played 3 home non-league games for this pre-season. They lost their first one to Notre Dame Academy 0-3, and won their next two against Malibu and Beverly Hills both with a final score of 3-0. So far this season Samo has played 4 home league games. They lost their first match 1-3 against Redondo Union. They won their second match 3-2 against Peninsula. Standout player, Jane Robinson (’25) reported on their win after the match, “We felt great that we won of course, but we feel we could’ve done it in less sets and we are very excited to play them again,” Robinson said. They lost their next two home matches both 3-0 against Mira Costa and Palos Verdes. Their next home match is on Oct. 12 against Culver City.
Overall, they want to continue to improve both their strengths and weaknesses to have the best season possible.
“The goals we have for our program is for our players to keep working hard everyday in the gym and in class,” Sato said.
The 22-23 season runs through Oct. 22, and the Vikings are hoping to extend their season and make it to the CIF playoffs this year.
Girls’ volleyball team celebrates after winning the point.