By Henry Luzzatto

Correspondent

Nansemond-Suffolk Academy’s girls’ volleyball team has been one of the school’s most successful teams in recent years. After winning two straight state championships in 2013 and 2014, the team relinquished its title last year. However, coach Robyn Ross says the team has a goal to reclaim its title as state champions.

“You’re probably in the wrong business if you have any other goal,” Ross said. “We’ve got the talent and the drive to win this year.”

Ross said the team will build off of last year’s successes and hope to continue the school’s legacy of victory.

“The girls should be really good again this year,” she said. “We only graduated one senior, so we should keep the team consistent.”

NSA’s volleyball team had a solid season last year, going 26-9 in the regular season and 9-0 in the Tidewater Conference of Independent Schools. Ross said the losses were disappointing, but she sees them as learning opportunities for the players.

“We had a good season,” she said. “The losses we had came from tournaments where we played against bigger schools and we were forced to play really good teams. Hopefully they can learn lessons from that and see what we need to do to reach that level.”

Two of their players, outside hitter Livi Bono and libero Logan Harrell, were named to the all-conference first team, while setter Nicole Wright was named to the second team. The three players will all be seniors this year, bringing a wealth of experience to the team.

“We have a pretty experienced group of girls,” Ross said. “Some of them have been around since we last won the state championships, so we have girls who know what it takes to win.”

Bono, Harrell and Wright played in all of NSA’s 108 sets last season. Bono led the team in kills last season, with 469, just nine shy of Kaylor Nash’s school record. Ross said Harrell was the first NSA libero to be named to the all-conference team.

Ross said she expects the key group of seniors to be leaders in the team, both on and off the court.
“This class of seniors should all step and play big roles as team leaders,” Ross said.

While the key to the team’s success may be the seniors, Ross said she is looking forward to seeing the younger players step up, as well. Tryouts for the team will be held on Monday, Aug. 8, and will give the younger players an opportunity to showcase their abilities and vie for a place on the team.

“This is going to be one of the most competitive tryouts I’ve ever had,” she said. “We’ve got a really strong group of young girls.”