Welcome to the block party.

That should be amongst the signs proudly seen on Hillcrest High’s volleyball court.

Already the Huskies have 10 blocks early this season, but that isn’t all their talent.

“Skill-wise, were one of the best teams,” Hillcrest coach Cassidy Adams said. “Most of our varsity played club all spring and summer and that’s why their skills are sharper this year.”

She anticipates her team to be right in the mix of state playoffs this season.

Being led by four seniors—Kassidy Beck, Meia Larsen, Ana Moleni and Dayana Mulamba—the Huskies are “already really impressive this year. We have a really strong class of seniors who are incredible players and our junior class is stepping up big time and filling in those spots of varsity,” Adams said.

The team opened its preseason with a non-conference match against Judge Memorial Catholic High, bettering them 3-1. Moleni lead the attack with 14 points on serves and nine digs.

They lost a close match against West Jordan High, 3-2. Mulamba earned 12 points off serves and junior Evalani Tagoa’i racked up 11 points. Larsen, Moleni, Mulamba, Tagoa’i and junior Adrie Sullivan each had five digs.

“We lost by two points in the fifth set. It was a super fun game, super competitive, really hard fought,” Adams said, adding West Jordan will be amongst the toughest competition the team will face this season.

The team came back to defeat Ogden High, 3-0, again with Moleni leading the digs with 11.

That mentality of toughness has come about since Adams took over the position last year.

“We worked on it last year and I can absolutely see the mental toughness this year. It was a process to get them up to a place where they can be confident last year. And we’re still working on it, but we’re definitely getting better,” she said. 

Adams credits team captains Larsen and Mulamba for keeping the team focused on the court.

“Their biggest role is mentally grounding them when they’re on the court, just keeping the energy positive and making sure everyone is in a good place. We want to keep working hard for each other,” she said.

Team bonding and cohesiveness is key—and that extends to all four high school teams of 33 players and the three middle school teams of 30 girls, who practice and play matches against neighboring opponents once per week.

A tradition the Huskies started last year was for all the teams to attend a University of Utah volleyball game together. This year, the seven teams will root on the Utes versus Purdue University on Sept. 6.

“It’s a lot of fun and we build cohesion in our program,” Adams said.

The Huskies also stress the togetherness at a skills camp, where they invited Ute senior Lauren Jardine, who helped “hammer down their skills and bring in a new perspective,” Adams said about the Big 12 preseason all-conference player.

That has helped bring about early season success. The JV and sophomore squads, under coaches Leandra Ashworth and Rachel Jensen, respectively, are undefeated. The freshman squad’s first game of the season was slated for Aug. 21. Their coach is Hilary Adams.

In addition to the regular varsity schedule, where Adams said Park City High is a favorite to win the region title, the Huskies have two tournaments—one slated at Juab High in late August and a second one scheduled in October at Stansbury High.

“We expect some of these teams to be good so we treat them like other teams; we want to go in and beat them,” she said. “Every team on our schedule is beatable. As long as we’re coming out and putting everything we have out on the floor, I’ll be happy with it. But we are looking to the playoffs. We had home seating last year and we’re aiming to be even better this year.” λ