With two brand new coaches, a new conference and all new competition this year will prove to be an exciting challenge for the Varsity volleyball team at GCA.

The team recently moved from the GISA conference to the GICAA (Georgia Independent Christian Athletic Association). Assistant Coach Mardi McRae recognizes it will be hard to judge the competition and know what to expect, but she said “we’ve fared well in GISA, so I feel like we should fare well in our region.”

McRae joins head coach Rhonda Wells, who is also new to the volleyball game. Wells was surprised at all the components with positions and has been playing catchup to be as knowledgeable as her players. She believes the team has great leadership this year though, with three seniors and two juniors coming back. McRae agreed saying, “we’ve got a really talented team.”

One of the many talented players is junior captain, Abby Mills. Mills thinks it will be a fun year especially with the new coaches, but realizes it may be a growing year because the team added so many younger girls. Her hope for this year’s team is to go undefeated. Both coaches and Mills agreed that their first game against Northside Methodist from Dothan, Alabama will be a very telling match.

The competition in Dothan is fierce because they not only play volleyball as a school sport, but some also train on a traveling team. Whereas, McRae explains volleyball at GCA is just a school sport. With such few kids, everyone is on every team and there is no time for a specialization in one particular sport.

Regardless of the competition, McRae and Wells are excited to take on this new challenge. There first match is against Northside Methodist at home on Monday, August 14 with the JV game starting at 5 p.m. and the Varsity at 6 p.m.