The La Salle varsity volleyball team is heading towards the postseason in great position: With two games left in the season, the Lady Falcons are 13-1 in conference and 15-2 overall, ranked 5th in the state in 5A.

Varsity head coach Liz Banta has been happy with the success of her team, saying, “The girls are working hard. We have made great strides over the last few weeks. They are implementing the skills from practice into their game play.”

Seven seniors graduated from the team last year, leaving room for many new players. New additions to the team include freshmen Maddie Hansen and Trinity Pisarsky, sophomore Olivia Bergeson, and junior Brittany Carter. “Our freshmen have so much to bring to the table. Both are versatile and I know that they will continue the legacy for the years to come. Olivia is an amazing libero and I know that I can count on her to make the best out of every play,“ says senior Kalina Rivera.

Junior Emmerson Smith agrees saying, “I absolutely love the new additions to our team this year! They really add something special to the team! They bring new energy and motivation.” Freshmen Maddie Hansen shares this mutual excitement, saying that “being a freshman was really intimidating to start off, but the older girls made me feel really welcome and treated me like they treat each other.”

Coming into the season, there were seven returning varsity players out of this year’s twelve player team. Senior Kalina Rivera, a returner, believes that the team’s “chemistry is so great… [and] I feel like I can trust any player at all times because we have such a great team bond both on and off the court.”

Certain players have been excelling this season and have significantly helped the team to be successful. Coach Banta says, “Sam Copperstone has really stepped up the last couple of weeks. She is getting more confident on the court, and has become a big impact player for us. Kalina Rivera is doing a great job of running our offense, and is just a great leader for our team.”

Last season, La Salle’s volleyball team went to the OSAA State Championship and lost to St. Helens, earning a 2nd place finish. The girls this year have used that loss as a learning experience and a motivational tool. Coach Banta says that “we know that we need to respect every match and every opponent. No one is going to back down to us, and it’s important that we are focused and ready to go every time we step on the court.”

Reflecting on last year’s game, Rivera says, “We learned that we can’t take the opportunity for granted. We have to be able to push through all the struggles and look at the bigger picture: State.”

Smith adds, “Going to state was an amazing experience. Losing that final match motivates us to work harder in practice and in a game.” Reflecting on their hardest competitions of the year so far, Emmerson said that “our only two losses have been to St. Helens and Marist, who is first in state for 5A right now.”

Going into this past Monday’s game against St. Helens, Coach Banta said, “St. Helens is tough, we played them in the championship last year. Marist and Summit look pretty tough. We saw them at a tournament earlier this season. We played Marist in the consolation championship, and lost in three.”

However, the Lady Falcons were victorious Monday against St. Helens, beating them 3-2 in a wild, back-and-forth game.

With two remaining games, La Salle will travel to Milwaukie on Tuesday the 20th, and will host Liberty on Thursday the 22nd for Senior Night. The Falcons blew by both opponents earlier this year, beating them both 3-0.

The first round of the playoffs will take place on Saturday, October 31, and the Falcons will look to make another appearance in the State Tournament on November 6th and 7th.