A month ago, the volleyball team was ranked among the top ten teams in Kansas during the season’s third and fourth weeks. However, since those first few weeks, the team has hit a slump. With a current record of 18-18, they slipped out of the rankings.

“A large part of the reason for [the slump] is that we have lost our focus in what’s important for each individual person to do to make us successful,” head coach Kim Service said.

The team’s problem is in maintaining a steady pattern of winning, according to Service. Between Sept. 14 and Oct. 7, the team alternated with five wins, four losses, one win and five more losses. The inconsistency hurts the team’s record, but they can still take aim at winning the 5A Sub-State Tournament .

“There’s… not a lot we can do at this point in the season, wins or losses, that’s going to change {our seeding at sub-state],” Service said. “We haven’t hurt ourselves in that regard. Where it has hurt us is our confidence in ourselves, our confidence in our team, our confidence in our ability to win tight matches.”

The players agree that morale is what has been hurt the most.

“We’ve just lost confidence in each other,” junior libero Sierra Miles said.

The inconsistency has affected the coaching plans as well.

“I have to focus on rebuilding confidence in each…player,” Service said. “We’re having to focus a lot more on individuals which makes practices a little bit longer.”

The players are determined and eager to finish the season strong.

“We need to work harder,” senior middle hitter Madison Acree said. “We really have to kick it up to try to beat our opponents.”

For the senior players, being ranking meant something special.

“We’re…excited because this is how we want to remember our senior year, as being the best volleyball [team] to come through Mill Valley,” Acree said. “We want to change the face of Mill Valley volleyball.”

The whole team was thrilled when they learned about the ranking. The players discovered the news before practice. Every week, coach Kim Service posts the current rankings on each of the varsity lockers.

“[The players] were screaming and yelling in the locker room, and cheering and jumping up and down,” Service said. “It was definitely a fun moment.”

The team’s outlook on the rest of the season is optimistic. The focus has been mostly on the 5A Sub-State Tournament, which is hosted at Mill Valley on Saturday, Oct. 23.

“We knew that it was going to be a tough season, having very little varsity experience coming back and lots of new players,” Service said. “To be ranked early on was a really awesome accomplishment for this group…I was ecstatic.”

Hard work and chemistry helped the team achieve the level needed to earn the top ten ranking.

“They are very cohesive… sometimes chemistry and that [team] dynamic is way more important than the physical skill,” Service said.

The team has spent time discussing the losing streak and creating new goals for improvement. Confidence is the biggest problem they face now, but they are all hopeful to make a comeback.

“I think that if the girls can put their words into actions then we have an excellent opportunity to be very successful,” Service said. “They deserve that thrill of victory.”