The volleyball team has started its season 6-1, with wins over Westminster, Forsyth Central, North Atlanta, Holy Innocents, Chapel Hill and Langston Hughes and a loss to Mt. Pisgah.
With GHSA removing classification 7-AAAAAAA, the Knights are now in Region 4-AAAA, putting them against some challenging new opponents, such as Pace Academy. Senior middle Kate Rebillot said the team will be working to be aggressive against top competition.
“The new region definitely brings some challenges, especially Pace, who has one of the best volleyball programs in the state, but I think that we should be able to hold our ground against them,” Rebillot said. “We’re going to have to work hard for it.”
Head coach Sandi Stein said Pace will underestimate Midtown, leading to a competitive match.
“With the new region, we have Pace, whose coach was the National Coach of the Year last year, and they’re always good,” Stein said. “But I think they’ll overlook us, so I think it’ll be a good match for us.”
Junior outside hitter Brennan Fritts said the losses of the seniors from last year have caused the team to modify their playstyle.
“We lost four seniors, including our starting six rotation outside hitter [Savannah Markham],” Fritts said. “She was a huge part of our team, so losing her has definitely impacted the team. However, I think everyone has adjusted to not having her and everyone is stepping up to fill her role.”
The team has one freshman, Grail Johnson, and four sophomores, all of whom, Rebillot said, are proving to be a positive addition to the team.
“All the underclassmen so far seem to have good attitudes and are willing to work hard for playtime,” Rebillot said. “The team already seems to be working well with each other and I think everyone’s going to have a successful season.”
Johnson said she has felt very welcomed into the team, despite the pressure placed on the youngest player on the team.
“Being the only freshman on varsity is definitely hard because every time I’m on the court, I’m trying to show that I belong, but everyone is very nice and helpful; they know I’m learning and help me with anything I might need,” Johnson said. “I really think I could go to anyone if I needed help [because] everyone is super supportive.”
As a team, Fritts said they have been working on building from defense into offense. Fritts is also working on her steadiness throughout the rotation.
“[As a team], we’ve spent a lot of time working on our defense and serve receive,” Fritts said. “I think that should give us an advantage because you can’t have great offense if you don’t have good defense. This season I really want to work on my all-around game. I’ve always been an aggressive player. This season, I want to be more consistent and work on my back row.”
Stein is looking to improve both in overall wins as well as on the stats table this season.
“Two goals are to win the Region Championship and win the State Championship,” Stein said. Then there’s other successes that we would have that might not be something that is tangible. We are looking for our team to be hitting at .350 and above, and improve serving reception.”
Johnson said she is looking forward to playing at the high school level and continuing to bond with her teammates.
“I’m excited to get better and play higher quality volleyball,” Johnson said. “All of my hard work has paid off and I’m so happy. This season is going to be great and my teammates are so much fun and extremely supportive.”
With this being Stein’s last season coaching high school sports, she is looking to bring home a State Championship Title.
“I mean [winning State is] like winning the Olympics,” Stein said. “It’s something you only can dream about and pray and work hard enough for and hope that you reach that final match and can just leave it all out there.”
