The students of AHS already know about the strong Girls Varsity Volleyball team, who made it to the 2nd round of CIF this year, losing to La Salle High School in an unfortunate match of only 3 sets. The year before, in the fall of 2016, former senior Rachel Reedy led her team to the 3rd round of CIF. But, a hidden gem remains unseen in the program: the JV team.

The majority of the current Varsity team has been on the JV team at one point in their high school athletic career and coached by Marvin Fong, a former volleyball player and coach of both the girls and boys JV team for three years. This year, the girls JV volleyball team took home the title of undefeated league champs. Coach Fong says that the key to success in the competitive Pacific League includes not only luck but also working hard in practices and dedicating time to work on techniques. During practice, he is known to often say, “Having fun in the game leads to good volleyball,” a mentality that has helped his past times to worthwhile and successful seasons.

This season has also seen a change in management with the new leadership of Coach Jennifer Estrada. Since her installation, she has implemented methods into the program that has affected all three levels:the freshman, junior varsity, and varsity teams. During summer camp, Coach Estrada had both potential Varsity and JV players practice together. This formed a feeling of camaraderie that influenced the program and friendships that transcended the different teams. During the summer, she also used new forms of conditioning to get all the players at their highest performance. In addition, during the season, all three teams rode to away games on one bus; there is something to be said about sharing one bus with more 30 other girls!
This year, the JV girls worked hard, adjusting to new team dynamics. The majority of the team was made of underclassman – 4 freshmen and 9 sophomores. Only 2 juniors were able to make the team once again. With the volleyball program being so exclusive, the girls reported being grateful for having made the team. At the end of the season, they could say that the term “teammates for a season, friends for life” applied to their case. That isn’t even to say what is to come for next year! With over half of the varsity team graduating, Coach Estrada is sure to take players from the JV team. Next year, we can only wait for the emergence of new stars!

Photo courtesy of ARCADIAAPACHES.BIGTEAMS.COM