The Lady Hornets are struggling to overcome early season shake-ups. Currently, the majority of the team’s seniors are playing different positions than they have in the past, leaving little room for experience on the team. Seven seniors graduated the team last year, creating room for a relatively large amount of new players this year. Additionally, senior Sarah Kennedy tore her rotator cuff in July and will be out for the entire season.

Despite the difficulties, the Lady Hornets have won eight of their 16 games. These numbers include tournaments, conference and non-conference games as of Sept. 23. The pressure to do well this year is high; the 2015-2016 Lady Hornets set the record for the most wins the team has seen, finishing out the season 28-8-2. They were knocked out of the playoffs by Fayetteville.

“[Fayetteville has] a lot of good players,” senior Alex Dillard said. “Every time we go up against them, it’s like you want to beat them so bad, not just because you want to win but because they knocked you out of the playoffs.”

The loss came two rounds into the state championship playoffs. According to Dillard, no current team members have seen the Lady Hornets make it past that second round.

“We had a good season last year,” senior Riley Hill said. “It was close, that’s why it was so heartbreaking, especially for the seniors.”

Volleyball coach Beth Solomon views Conway as their biggest rival, despite what history would suggest.

“Conway is always my big [challenge] that I go to, but part of that is because I’m from there,” Solomon said. “We have not beat Conway since I have been coaching here. We have the players that can make it happen, it’s just a matter of making it happen.”

Solomon has also cited Southside as a large threat. However, both Solomon and the players believe that they won’t have any “easy” games this year. The Lady Hornets recently moved into a strictly 7A conference, meaning they will no longer play any smaller schools.

The team’s current strategy has focused on their dynamic as a group, as opposed to specific plays.

“Everyone just has to be aware of how they treat others on the team and build each other up all the time,” sophomore Madi Draper said. “We just have to walk into games knowing that we’re going to have to fight our hardest.”