Meet the Eagles: Sandburg Girls Varsity Volleyball

Resilience best describes the Sandburg varsity girls' volleyball team.

The Carl Sandburg High School team has combated illness and injuries throughout the season, but maintains a 16-7 record.

"We just had two girls today with shoulder injuries that they're working with," head coach David Vales said. "Some of them are overuse injuries."

The Eagles recently dealt with Jenny Buczek, their senior outside hitter/right side hitter, being out for three weeks with an illness. Buczek has started for Sandburg each year since she was a freshmen.

"It was a tough thing for our team to overcome," Vales said.  "But Dakota Hampton, a sophomore, stepped up nicely and the rest of the girls just picked up the slack."

But Sandburg defines themselves as a versatile team.

"There's not just one good player for each spot," senior setter Genna Pavone said.

"You can put anyone out there and they'll fill the spot just as well as the other person can."

The Eagles went 3-2 in the Asics Challenge this past weekend where they played against teams from across the country. Pavone had 11 assists, four aces and three kills during the team's win over Nazareth in the tournament. She has 260 assists on the season and accredits the team's success to an unusual source.

"(We're successful) because of our mistake," Pavone said. "Once we made them, the next day we talk about how we're going to fix them. Then we just really work on it at practice."

Sandburg is currently 6-0 in their conference. Megan Opferman, senior middle hitter, said that achievement is largely because they team changed their approach from last season.

"Last year I think we stuck with one single lineup and tried to work through it," Opferman said. "But this year we're always changing things. (We have) different lineups and (we're) working with whatever we get thrown at us."

Opferman had six kills in the weekend's victory over Nazareth and has 103 kills on the season.

Another advantage Sandburg has over other teams is experience. Vales has been the Eagles' head coach for the past four years and has been involved with the volleyball program at Sandburg for more than a decade. And in addition to his expertise, he said the Eagles are fortunate to have a lot of veterans on their bench.

"These girls are committed year round to the sport," Vales said. "All 13 girls have played club probably since they were in 6th grade. Their dedication to the team and to each other has really helped.

 "We have nine girls that came back from last year and 13 girls on the squad," Vales said. "That's a lot of experience."

Pavone said that unity is their main strength.

"We're all one," Pavone said. "We help each other through the hard times. We're all just one as a whole together."

The Eagles are hoping that their hard work pays off.

"We want to make it to state," Opferman said. "But we're going to take it step-by-step so we're prepared."

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