Hunter volleyball team focuses on playing together

As a young varsity team, the Hunter volleyball players placed most of their focus on fundamentals and improving their teamwork work on and off the court this season.

“We only had one returning varsity player this year, so everyone was new,” Hunter head volleyball coach Pam Olson said. “Skill wise, the improvement was huge over the course of the season. Our main goal was to improve our skills and get along as a team during games and after.”

The Wolverines lost a majority of their preseason games as they worked through coming together as a team, but they came back to win seven of their 12 Region 2 matches.

The most effective team-building event over the course of the season was the Pink Match the girls played on Oct. 4 in honor of former Hunter volleyball team captain Janelle Davidson Tongaonevai, who was killed in a car accident in August.

The girls came together off the court to raise more than $7,000 for Janelle’s younger sister Jazmyn Davidson, also a former Hunter volleyball captain, who was injured in the accident. With alumni watching, Hunter won the match against Kearns 3-2.

“A big thing from the fundraiser and over the course of the season is that the girls learned that they could count on each other and that doesn’t end when volleyball is over,” Olson said. “The girls talked a lot of about being a family.”

Hunter defeated Kearns again 3-1 in the final match for Region 2 on Oct. 27, which won it a place in the state playoffs. It lost a tough first-round match against a top-ranking team Lone Peak 3-0 on Nov. 4.

Later that day the team demonstrated its teamwork and its determination to never give up when it came together to win two sets, 25-22 and 25-21, after losing their first two sets, 25-18 and 25-19, against Brighton. Brighton won the tiebreaker set to win 3-2.

The advantage to being a young varsity team is that most of the team will be returning next year, ready to add to the previous year’s skills and accomplishments.

There will be three senior players gradating this year: Moliina Phear a setter, Fetalaga Tuivaiti, an outside hitter, and Desirae Ramos, an outside hitter and setter.