For years, volleyball has been the focal point of the fall semester at several high schools, Taft is no exception. Historically, Taft has one of the most successful volleyball programs in the San Fernando Valley. Taft features 3 teams for girls’ volleyball, including Varsity, Junior Varsity, and Frosh/Soph.

Taft’s volleyball team has been practicing 2 hours every day since Summer and came into the season strong. Their relentless practice schedule provided them the skills and teamwork needed to end the season with 42 wins and 8 losses. “Spending 4 years on Volleyball, it means a lot to finally get somewhere in the final of the Championship and having the chance to put our name on the banner forever means a lot to us,” says Nicole Bahmei, the Outside hitter and middle back player of the Varsity team.

With 8 wins and only 2 losses in the city championship, the team placed second, making them qualify for the State championship. Even though the team has lost the city final game against Palisades, they have not lost their hope and are working so hard to do well in the State and Playoffs. According to Danica Littaua, “Dealing with a loss is hard and devastating for us because we know that we can do so much as a team together that a loss doesn’t really count for us that we know we can do so much better in the next game and that we can pick ourselves back up”.   

The players on the team not only play on a very competitive sport like Volleyball, but they also have great academic achievements. Many of the players are in challenging classes including Advanced Placement and Honors classes. As a student-athlete, it’s extremely important to balance between playing a sport, being in academically challenging classes as well as holding positions and being members in lots of clubs and leadership activities. However, the players of Taft’s Varsity Volleyball team know just how to set themselves up for success, both on and off the court.