girls’ volleyball serves up success

Manny Lopez/ The Samohi

Estella Reynolds (’26) serves up the ball during in practice scrimmage while

Jasmine [left] (’27) and Maya Paysinger [right] (’27) get ready for the ball.

Last season, the Samo girls volleyball team had a strong year where they went 21-6 in overall play and 9-1 in league games. In CIF playoffs, the team made it to the quarterfinals before losing to Newbury Park in a tight and tense match that went to a fifth and final set. Liane Sato summed up last season as a great overall year with many successes but also room for improvement. 

One major difference from last season is the change in head coaching position. Liane Sato, the longtime coach of this team is now team manager and Johnathon Pritchard was promoted to the head coaching job. Pritchard is an old Samo alumni who was on the boys volleyball team when he went to this school. The team is hoping that this change can benefit their season, which they are coming into with a lot of confidence and determination. 

“Our goal is to win the Ocean League. Each team in the league presents its own challenge. Our job is to identify the challenge, create a plan to achieve the goal,” Sato said. 

In the teams first home league game on Sep 8th against Inglewood, the team won in three straight sets and outscored the opposing squad 75-26. This was done in dominant fashion, where Samo outscored Inglewood three to one. One thing that is helping this team succeed is that the roster this year is pretty similar to last year with only a couple of starters graduating last year. This was shown in the opening parts of the season with the upperclassman being the vocal leaders out on the Volleyball court, more specifically the two captains on this team Jasmine Martinez (’26) and Jordan Scannell (’26). 

“As a captain I try to lead the team when we are feeling low or giving pep talks and helping people with little things when they need it.” Martinez said. 

But this team is more than just great skills on the volleyball court, they excel academically. This team continues to have one of the highest GPA’s of any sport on campus. 

“We are super proud that our team has one of the highest GPA’s in the athletic program,” Sato said.

The Samo girls volleyball team jumped out to a hot start going undefeated, 4-0. This year's start was the team's best start in over five years, since the 2019 season. Their record is currently 11-5 and home play will resume with a match against Centennial on Oct 6th. 

“We want to work to have really good communication and work well together. And also hopefully go far in CIF,” Martinez said.