The game of volleyball is for two teams, six players on their side of the court, to hit a ball by hand over a high net. The goal is to score points by making the ball reach the ground on the opponent’s side of the court.

Volleyball is one of many sports here at Pitman High and was introduced to Pitman as soon as the school was built. Since then, volleyball coaches have been choosing the greatest players to make a strong team.

Recently, the volleyball team played against our biggest rivals, Turlock High School. Sadly, Freshman and JV teams lost, but varsity won with an intense game. By the time it was time for the varsity game, both sides of the stands were excited and nervous. Both the Pit Crew and the Dog Pound were chanting and screaming for their teams. Turlock High beat Pitman on the first set with a score of 17-25. Surprisingly, Pitman came back and beat Turlock on the next three sets.

Kristen Pontes-Christian, varsity volleyball coach, has seen many outstanding teams come and go since 2004. She has helped make stronger and better volleyball players as the years passed. Her girls won six consecutive titles for CCC from 2010 to 2016. Her varsity team in 2014 won a NorCal Championship which is half the state.

“We felt great. It’s always fun in the rival game against Turlock. There’s lots of fans, lots of support. The girls have a lot of energy and intensity and we haven’t won there at Turlock High since 2014. The last few years, we beat them over here but not over there so it was a big win for us,” stated Pontes-Christian.                                                                                                                                  

Volleyball is a lot harder than it looks. One would have to have the capability to react quickly, work as a team, be consistent on the court, have good communication skills and have good technique. These are all abilities that the school’s volleyball players have.

These girls practice everyday from two o’clock to five o’clock except when they have their games.The volleyball girls work very hard everyday to become a better team, to try to perfect the abilities they already have, or to gain new ones. They practice different drills to become better at hitting, passing or setting. The teams also scrimmage against each other to practice what an actual game is going to be like.

The coaches also work very hard to get the best out of all of their players even though it’s sometimes a thankless and frustrating job. They put in their time to get to know the volleyball players’ weaknesses and strengths to help them improve. They inspire the girls to do more than they believe they can and build up their self esteem.

Pitman High’s volleyball players work very hard for every point so that they have a great season. They have done great so far and everyone is excited to see how great they’ll do the rest of the season.