The South Girls Varsity Volleyball team can be described in one word: champions. On November 4, the volleyball team defeated Grosse Pointe North in the District Final—a satisfying close to a successful season. This wasn’t a new feat for the volleyball team; this was their 11th year winning districts.

They won the MAC White conference as well this year, with only two losses to North. Captain Quinn Gorski ’23 said their previous losses to North shattered them, making the district win more sweet.

“In volleyball, we always beat North and I don’t know how many years it’s been since we haven’t, so losing that first game was really hard,” Gorski said. “We were crushed after the loss, so (winning districts) was a big deal for us. We were all crying after we beat them and it was so fun.”

Gorski believes that part of their win and success this season was due to their strong relationship.

“It’s such a team sport because everyone has to rely on each other with what they’re doing to make anything happen,” Gorski said. “We were all able to get along really well and rely on each other for things even outside of volleyball, which made it easier on the court.”

Gabby Divita ’26 was an underclassman new to the team. Divita said being brought up to varsity has allowed her to learn a lot from Gorski and her older teammates.

“I have grown by learning from everybody else who’s older on the team,” Divita said. “Watching them and how they lead has helped me develop my leadership skills and it’s going to help me move on these next three years.”

The varsity team had three freshmen players this season, which is unusual compared to previous years. Divita said that having younger players not only benefited her experience as an underclassmen but also improved the work ethic of the older girls.

“It gave the older girls an opportunity to lead (the underclassmen) and help us learn how things go on the team, ” Divita said. “They gave the underclassmen a good idea of how Varsity works and how you (have) to hold yourself to a certain standard.”

Although there are benefits to having a younger group, Coach Janeil Divita said it can occasionally create conflict and disadvantages on the court.

“Anytime you have a young group that doesn’t have varsity experience, you’re playing against girls that are three years older than you a lot of times, they’re always going to have a little lack of maturity and competence at times,” Divita said. “We’re trying to get a lot of repetitions in practice so the girls develop some competence, and that translates to the games.”

Despite these disadvantages, Divita said their strengths were demonstrated at the District Final.

“We proved to ourselves that we’re that team that can show up, set goals and accomplish what we set out to accomplish,” Divita said. “Everybody played a really good game, so that’s what we needed to win. It was a team effort all the way around.”