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For 10 of the past 11 seasons, the Grand View women’s volleyball program has posted a winning record, and last season, the team made a run all the way to the national tournament. A lot of that success stems from Grand View’s focus on having student athletes who represent the school well, not just on the court but also off with leadership. With the goal of another post-season run on their mind, the No. 2 ranked team focuses on hard work and tough practices to get to where they want to be.

Despite their high ranking, head coach Tina Carter said the team is keeping a level head.

“We talk about it as a cool number, and it’s definitely a reflection of their hard work, but we don’t change the way we train based on a number in front of our name,” Carter said. “It’s how we represent ourselves as a whole.”

Coach Carter has a master’s degree in Sports Administration, which helps her with the management of the team, as well as an undergraduate degree in psychology, which helps with the team’s mental game.

“I think volleyball teams have this interesting dynamic where you have the workhorse, you have the vocal leader, you have the silent leader, you have all of these pieces and somehow they make up a team, “ Carter said. “Each person has a leadership quality in some way, and we have certain kids that step up in certain situations.”

Senior middle blocker, Courtney Twit is one of the leaders on the team this year.

“I think the most special thing about our team is that we are all friends both on and off the court,” Twit said. ”All of us get along really well. Way better than any other team I’ve been on in high school.”

This sense of family helps everyone feel as if they are a contributor to the team. This is a problem for some top schools, especially for freshman, who can feel unneeded. Grand View includes freshmen in the family.

“Coming into Grand View as a freshman is exciting since this school has a reputation of always going to nationals and being one of the top teams in the country,” Karliegh Haplin, a freshman outside hitter, said. “We have a lot of opportunities with our team playing together, and we have a lot of chemistry. Everyone just loves each other. We have so many different ages, seniors, juniors, even freshman starting varsity. Everyone has the same goal to be national champs and that makes it even more exciting that we want to get their together.”

Not only are the players working hard as a team, but the fans are also doing their part in participating. Grand View fans let the players know that they are supported by cheering them on near and far during the team’s journey to nationals.

“When there are more people at the games I think we do play better, and we are more motivated,” Twit said. “We’ve only had one home game this year so far and it was a really big turnout, and the energy from the crowd really helped a lot.”

The Vikings plan on making a run this year for nationals. With the team looking strong at the beginning of this year nothing seems to stand in their way, and with the help of their fans it seems like the spikers won’t be the only ones “acing” the court this year.