Olivia Dowell is a student at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism assigned to cover Xavier College Prep for AZPreps365.com.

Going into the end of their volleyball careers in high school, all three senior captains Emma Soderstrom, Alexa Shiner and Bella Sinacori for the Xavier College Prep volleyball team collectively agreed that they want their team to remember how important chemistry is within a team as well as knowing the balance between hard work and having fun.

“As senior captains, I felt we’ve shown the team that team chemistry is incredibly important,” Soderstrom, an outside hitter, said. “Additionally, hard work and having fun is crucial to success, and it should motivate you every time you step out on the court.”

The three captains have been playing since their youth and are in their final season in a Gator uniform, where they all collectively described volleyball as a big presence in their lives all leading up to this point.

“Volleyball has always been a huge presence in my life, both inside and outside of Xavier,” Soderstrom said. “Ever since I was little, volleyball was the thing I would look forward to at the end of my day.”

Now at the beginning of the postseason play, the meaning of the word leader has been elevated for the volleyball captains of the XCP volleyball squad. The main focus for the team throughout this postseason, Shiner said, is to focus simply on playing volleyball in the best ways they can while taking a lot of responsibility in her position as a captain.

“To be a leader at Xavier is a big honor,” Shiner said. “It allows me to truly focus on taking charge on the court and lift up my team.”

Head volleyball coach Lamar-Renee Bryant said in an interview back on Sept. 21 that the academics side of the school for Xavier also plays into how being an honor for the athletics program is important, as well, with leadership.

“Being a coach at a school that’s all women is not very different than coaching at a two-sex school,” Bryant said. “However, coaching at an academic elite school, that’s where we should have a higher moral compass as well as making sure students are taking care of things in the classroom.”

With the girls still having a full semester left at Xavier after the end of this volleyball season, Soderstrom said she feels with the time she has left as a Gator student that she hopes the school just continues to support her like she said they have already.

“For the rest of my time at Xavier, I would just say that I want a continuation of [the] support my community has always given,” Soderstrom said.

Going into the postseason, Sinacori said the team’s performance and record thus far have been successful but that they have also learned a lot through their time playing in the 6A Premier region, which is considered to be one of the best conferences for athletics in the state of Arizona.

The Gators open up their quest to a state championship with a matchup with league opponent Basha on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. after the team finished the regular season with a conference win over Mesa in straight sets.

“We’ve had mostly wins,” Sinacori said when describing the team she is a co-leader of. “But even through the losses we have learned and feel prepared to go far in the state tournament.”