In the world of Bluestreak athletics volleyball is a fall season sport only, but for some particularly ambitious players and coaches, it extends a bit farther than that. During this time in late March the 17U JO volleyball team, coached by HHS’s very own Hannah Bowman, is just now wrapping up their season.

“I think its been fun. I think its been a really good learning experience for the girls. We’ve had an awesome time blending 5 schools worth of players together on one team so I think its been really fun,” Bowman said.

On this year’s 17U team five different schools are represented including East Rock, Paige County, Luray, Eastern Mennonite and of course, Harrisonburg. Even though they are not seventeen, Abby Hissong, Casey Wilson and Kennedy Wolter made the team and this past weekend played in an 18U tournament. The Lady Aces fought hard but are still looking to improve their game.

“[I still want to work on] passing, always passing. Ball control in general, just making sure we’re being really careful with things and then also making sure we’re always looking for an opportunity to attack and not just free balling it over,” Bowman said.

Two year JO volleyball veteran, Kennedy Wolter, has enjoyed her time with the Lady Aces and plans to come back for a third season next year.

“It’s really fun and it has really helped me develop more of my volleyball skills. This year I really think I improved my hitting,” Wolter said.

However, Wolter is not the only one that has taken a few things away from JOs. The team as a whole has grown and improved with high hopes for making varsity in the Fall. Bowman is very proud of the strides her team has taken this year.

“A lot of them had never played on a varsity level before, almost half my team. And so just in terms of how fast they are and how quickly they react to the ball, how fast they move on the court I’ve seen really big improvements,” Bowman said.

Age groups range from U11 through U18. The club has recently even tried including a few boys teams for next year.

“[If you are thinking about playing in JOs] just go for it. It’s really fun and you get to meet people from other schools that you probably wouldn’t have met otherwise,” Wolter said.