The 2020 girls volleyball season was a historic one. The Varsity Royals were 25-1 this year, holding the top high school volleyball rank in the country for a portion of their season.

Coach Jason Young is very proud of what his teams were able to accomplish over the fall season stretch, as they won every regular season game.

“It was a great season.” Young said. “Program as a whole went 76-1 on the year.”

All of this in the midst of a pandemic that made many of the players uncertain as to whether or not they’d see the court this year.

“This season was definitely one for the books,” Senior Delaney Garner said. “With everything that is going on in the world, it was truly a blessing that we were able to play!”

On their way to becoming HCC and Sectional Champions, the Royals adopted the phrase “we over me” as a tool to unite their team. Garner believes this attitude played a huge role in the success they had this season.

“Us seniors decided early in the season that we wanted a family atmosphere,” Garner said. “We really emphasized [‘we over me’] to the underclassmen which is why I believe we did so well during the season. We simply played for our teammates next to us!”

The Royals fell short on their road to the playoffs, losing in the final set of their regional match against McCutcheon. But they don’t allow the loss to overshadow their accomplishments this fall.

“Although we didn’t end the way we wanted, it does not define us,” Garner said. “During the season, we truly grew as a program and created a family that will last!”

Garner and Carly Mills were named to the 4A First Team All-State team for the second year. Freshman Lauren Harden was named to the 4A Second Team All-State. Harden was up for MaxPreps Player of the year as well.

Mills and Garner also earned Academic All-State honors along with seniors Jordan Engelmann, Taylor Lauri and Olivia Phillips.

Many of this year’s Royals cemented their names in the school record books as well. Phillips broke the school record for career assists, going over 2500. Mills went over 1500 career digs and is the current career record holder. And Garner recorded with her 700^th career kill.

All-State and record information provided by Jason Young