In its second season, Pleasant Valley High School’s boys volleyball team is flourishing. After falling inactive for several years, it was reestablished in the 2024-25 school year after overcoming obstacles like funding, publicity, and earning community support. With grit and dedication, the team has come a long way from when the boys first stepped foot back on court.
Benjamin Donnelley, captain of PV’s varsity boys volleyball team, noted the stark difference he saw between this season and last year’s season. “The differences I have noticed between this year and last year’s season & team is the level of interest and the competitiveness. This school year, we have a JV team, which has been great for providing athletes with extra training and experience, while still having games and being competitive. This will help those athletes so when they get to the varsity level, they will be ready for the competition and work to play on varsity.” Thanks to the hard work and determination of the team this past year, more opportunities are available for the team to grow.
This year, the team has welcomed many new players on both the varsity and junior varsity level. Owen Yang, libero for the varsity team, shared his aspirations for wrapping up the current season. “My personal goal is to hopefully set the tone for future volleyball players as a first year libero, and I hope I contributed with great energy.” Sophomore Daniel LeDuc also shared two of his own personal goals; “Get better at serving, and I hope to not shank passes for my team.” When asked what advice he would give someone considering joining the volleyball team next year, Danny replied, “You don’t have to be good at the sport to learn it,” an example of how a positive and encouraging attitude can uplift a team.
Ben Donnelley was asked how the community around PV can help support boys’ volleyball. “Our community and school can help support us majorly by helping the program by coming to watch our home games. We have seen an increase in the viewers of each game, which helps the environment on game day and showing our opponents [that] PV has the best athletes and community. Also,” he added, “by supporting our program by getting snacks & drinks from our snack bar at our home games.” Funding and community support can be a great challenge for any sport to handle, especially a newer one on campus. By showing up to home games and stopping by the snack stand, Vikings can support their athletes and help them reach their goals.
Like every team, boys volleyball has faced its own challenges. According to Ben, “The biggest challenges my team is facing this season is handling pressure and choking up in big moments. There are many times we get stuck in one rotation and this could be because of many things, but we are focusing on getting 1 pass, 1 set, and 1 kill–to get out of that rotation and move on and focus on winning the game.” Varsity libero Owen Yang also added, “A challenge I had to overcome was rotations of volleyball since it was my first official year playing. Learning my spot.” However, through the roadblocks and learning experiences, Ben emphasized how teamwork and dedication have helped the team improve as a whole. “I believe that my team’s strengths are everyone’s attitude and eagerness to play. Playing with a team that wants to win and be competitive makes games and practices so much more fun and enjoyable. We have a great team chemistry and everyone has such a great attitude. We have improved all of our skills so much, and we are super lucky to have such a good coaching staff that wants to make us the best.”
On the topic of improvement, Ben said, “I think that our areas of improvement are game mindsets. Volleyball is such a team dependent sport and we are still learning how to all play with each other. I know that this will be something we work on everyday, but I also know it’s only going to get better. The more we are all in the gym practicing or playing with each other, we have improved our communication and trust with every single teammate.” Ben’s goal for the team is to foster a competitive and high-achieving environment, which he aims to achieve by supporting his teammates and bringing his best to every practice, inspiring others to do the same.
Boys volleyball has leapt into success in the past year, thanks to overwhelming community support and tireless dedication from athletes pushing for their passions. With commitment and true Viking spirit, boys volleyball is bound for yet another amazing season.
