Heading into the 2020-2021 season, the Lady Caps Volleyball team was excited to start a new season after their playoff run at the end of the 2019-2020 season. After a hard-fought loss to Green Hope in the semifinals of the 2020 State Championship, the team had their eyes set on the same goal for this season,

   “Our broad goal was to make it to the playoffs and we definitely accomplished this by making it to the second round,” Senior Grace Ledford said.

   This athletics year is a challenge for all teams due to COVID-19. The main change and irregularity for this season was the delay in the scheduling of the season, throwing off timing for a lot of the players, 

   “COVID-19 pushed our season later into the year so that many of our players were playing club and school volleyball simultaneously. We also had to wear masks while we played, which was definitely an adjustment,” Senior Charlotte Fullbright said.

   Not only was this team challenged by the pandemic, but the team was also challenged by the loss of the 2019 Gatorade North Carolina Player of the Year, Jade Demps, who now plays volleyball in college at Wisconsin.

   “We knew we wouldn’t have the strength of Jade this year so we had to focus on our strength of serving and serve and receive and being able to hang in long rallies. I think we definitely played well [in the absence of Jade] and thrived thanks to Coach Hermanson,” Senior Tory Schafer said.

   The team finished with a record of 8-3 in the regular season, with two of their losses coming against undefeated state champion Cardinal Gibbons. This was a very special season for the Capitals, as the team made the playoffs both of the two years under Coach Hermanson.

   Heading into the playoffs, the Caps were seeded #8 in the East side of the bracket. The Caps won their first playoff match against Holly Springs, 3-1. In the second round of the playoffs, the Caps faced the #1 seed, Pinecrest. The team ended their season with a 3-2 loss against Pinecrest. Although the team was not expected to win, nobody could have expected them to go to 5 sets with the #1 seed.

   “My favorite memory from this season will definitely be our final game against Pinecrest. We played so hard and I was so proud of everyone on the team,” Junior Kiki Klibson said.

   Although the Volleyball team will be losing six seniors in the graduating class of 2021, the future is bright for Capitals Volleyball with 2 of the top 5 kill leaders being underclassmen Maggie Hansen and Amie Sanneh.