The boys volleyball team is on the cusp of one of their most challenging seasons, but they’re ready for all the hits. After gradutaing four seniors from last season, this year’s team is trying rebuild with the experience passed down. One returning senior, Andrew O’Neill, has high expectations for this season. “With the new coach, we really have the ability to be good. We have really learned a lot from her. The talent we have on this team is really good. Our expectations are to keep learning and improving, win more games than last year, and possibly win a regional championship.”

Fellow senior Jose Sandoval is coming back with great experience, along with senior Colin Hugunin. Junior Ian McDowell is a strong player on the team, and is great at any position he is asked to play. Freshmen Liam Jackson brings high hopes as well. Having volleyball experience and being 6’4 really adds height to their team and their expectations.
One of the other highlights this season is the start to new head coach Rebecca Refenes’ career at St. Edward. She has a lot of background in coaching and played Division I volleyball at the University of Cincinnati. She also had the opportunity to play in Europe, which helped her further develop her skills.

Coming into this season Coach Becca has great expectations for her new team, “I expect to be teaching a lot about the sport of volleyball and hopefully getting the players to really grow in their technical game as well as growing their passion for the sport. I think if we really focus on the process of learning volleyball, the results will come.” Every team comes with weaknesses, but Coach Becca knows this team has a lot of strengths as well; “The team is really eager to learn and I think that will be our greatest strength! I think ball control for any can always be improved, so that could be a weakness that might hinder the rest of our game.”

The first match of the season will be on April 2 in the U-46 tournament.