It’s the last week of summer, and while most students are soaking in their last week to sleep in, senior Reese Gibbs is already up, preparing a water bottle and grabbing her volleyball bag to head out the door. Reese is one of the seven returning varsity members this year, and the next four days help decide her team placement and position.

It’s a two-a-day week for the volleyball team, which means they will be lifting and conditioning in the morning and then spending the afternoon at volleyball practice. By the end of the week the varsity team will have practiced over 18 hours.

“Two a days are excruciating on the body,” Reese said. “It is a time the team takes super seriously, because we are preparing for the season. Going into tournament season it is important to stay in shape and with two a days it almost recreates a tournament. We play multiple times in the morning and afternoon —- it also allows the team to build chemistry and have team building”.

Surviving the week is a hard task for anyone, but junior Maggie Prejean finds the outcomes of two a days very rewarding.

“When the team is together for this long of time, it really helps us bond and create that family feeling,” Maggie said. “I think it allows us to get great touches on the ball, but even more importantly allows us to trust, and rely on each other more. Especially since there are around five new members to the team, including myself, I think it is important to build those relationships on and off the court to allow us to perform better.”