Sophomore Madison Ling just ended her second year playing on the varsity volleyball team. From an early age, Ling loved volleyball and she continued to play for the club Revolution up until this past year.

Despite challenges in the preseason, the varsity squad placed fourth in districts and reached the playoffs. Ling described the culture of being on varsity far different from anything else she’d experienced. 

“You have more pressure, and it’s way more fun and I just really like playing with the people that are above your skill level,” said Ling.

Ling leads her team in the most blocks for this past season, as she’s fulfilling her goal to get as many blocks as she can. 

In the last two games of district the team beat Dayton and Lufkin.

“We were lucky, Lufkin was undefeated in district and we beat them,” said Ling. “We were the first team to beat them in the past two seasons.”

Throughout her time on varsity, Ling has made multiple connections with her teammates and her coaches. Since the team is smaller, Ling and other team members say they have a closer bond and they get the job done

“Some of our team’s weaknesses are like our own self, so we get in our mind that we’re not good enough,” said Ling. “Or we’re doing bad and then it just brings the whole team down.”

Ling encourages other people to just play the sport they want to. She said playing for a team is very rewarding because of the close bonds you build.

“If you really want to go for a sport, you should try it because it’s so fun,” said Ling.