On Sept. 24, the Whitney Young girls varsity volleyball team walked through the Jones gym doors. They had not lost a conference game in two years and the Jones Eagles planned on ending that right then and there. The game began and the score stood at 24-23 in the third set. The Eagles were up one point. The serve came over and got passed perfectly, set beautifully and then spiked straight down and so hard it hit the ceiling, bringing victory to Jones College Prep.

Through out history, championship trophies came naturally for the Jones girls varsity volleyball team. Back-to-back titles made the Jones Eagles a dominant program that shook fear throughout the Chicago Public League. But that happened two years ago. Last year the Eagles did not win the Chicago Public League title, but instead got third place. This fall off seemed like a major setback for years to come, but instead, has become the driving force for the team to reclaim their spot as the top team in Chicago Public League.

Their sudden drop in rank came due to the loss of six core players before the start of the season last year.

“We kind of shaped last year asa rebuilding year,” Lily Berry said.

These seniors had just won back-to-back titles and nobody could replace them in just one year, but the team still had to fill their shoes. They did so by adding freshmen and sophomores and by making seniors Berry and Suraya Aquino-Hadden take charge and use their experience to lead their team as captains.

“That was my first year being a main pin [hitter], her first year really setting and it was our first year as captains as well… That was hard, but it was definitely fun,” Aquino-Hadden said.

Through these challenges last season, the team learned a very valuable lesson that they carry with them up to this year.

“Mistakes are important to make and they aren’t anything negative,” Berry said. This created a philosophy for the team that improved their growth into their season this year. As of Oct. 22, Jones has a record of 9-2, and are fighting for No. 1 in the Chicago Public League. Even though they’re on top, the team still finds ways to improve by taking their one loss and learning from it.

“Our team has gotten so much better after we had one really bad game…because we got to watch each other make mistakes that maybe we wouldn’t usually make and learn how to handle it properly,” Aquino-Hadden said.

The team has worked hard to improve this year and that comes from coaches Howard Hu and Pavel “Pav” Rusev. They implemented optional extra practice to anyone who needs it. During that time coaches will help the players with anything they need. These extra reps give the team a lot more experience and practice that helps in the game.

“We got really lucky with Pav. He dedicates a lot of time to us and if we finish practice early and if we’re not confident in ourselves, he’ll let us stay after,” Berry said.

This opportunity to get extra reps has been a guiding force for the team that improved their gameplay. But gameplay does not complete everything necessary to make a good team, the players must work well together.