Erik List is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Paradise Valley High School for AZPreps365.com

High School athletics can be a roller coaster of a ride with the highest of highs when you win and crushing lows when you lose.

The Paradise Valley girls volleyball season has been riddled with its fair share of both.

With a 7-11 record, it has been an up-and-down year for the Trojans.

A seven-game losing streak plagued the middle of the season for the Trojans, but things have slowly been looking up. During a season that has been a roller coaster, it can be hard to stay positive, but the Trojans have kept their spirits and team energy high.

“So, it doesn’t really feel like we've been at like too much of a loss,” senior Mary Jane Borowski said. “Our record right now isn't that great. I believe we’re [7-11] right now. It doesn't really feel that way. Just with the team. We've stayed positive throughout the whole time.”

The Trojans swept all three of their games in a tournament they played on the weekend of Sept. 23 to finish third. They unfortunately lost two more regular season games after that, but picked up a big win during their most recent game Oct. 4 -- their breast cancer awareness game.

“I think that when we are at our ups and at our highs that we're really truly playing together as a team,” senior Abby Peterson said.

“And this tournament really helped us exemplify that and show us I feel like we really came together and worked as a whole, not only to play volleyball, which we all love but to have a good time. We weren't too focused on just like winning, winning all the time, but more focused on just having a good experience because for a lot of us, half the team, it is our last season.”

Not dwelling on losses or letting a teammate feel down has also been a strong suit for the Trojans.

“I think just not being hard on each other,” Borowski stated. “Like if someone makes a mistake or someone has a [bad] game, we tell them it's okay. We [aren’t] be hard on them. The next day it's erased. It’s not like the next day at practice; we're kind of mad at them for messing up their serves or things like that.”

While they try as they might to stay positive, the losses and ups and downs of a season can bring mental challenges.

“We definitely are trying to stay mentally strong because it is taking a toll,” Peterson said. “But we had a mental coach come in for a day and just come and talk to us and try and help us work through the feelings of what like this last season is for us.”

Sports can take a mental toll on the mind, and it is important not to push those feelings down but to talk about them and understand them.

“That's why we hired a sports psychologist to come in and talk to them about growth mindset, strong mindset, to work towards that and not look at the losses,” Paradise Valley head coach Jessica Spencer said when asked about the mental coach she introduced to the team.

Spencer emphasized that the season is ending quickly, and they need to do well and win so they can move up in the rankings to have hopes of a bid to state.

“We'll do like super good the first set or like super bad the first set, but then we'll make our way up,” Borowski insisted. “So, something we're gonna try and do within the next few games is try and keep it consistent, play the best we can to our level every single game instead of solely waiting to show up.”

Getting back to the basics and having fun can also be a recipe for success.

“I think that we just need to focus on staying together and having fun,” Peterson commented. “We do play our best when we are at our high, and we are at our high when we're having fun. So, I think that's something to really focus on. And I think as we focus more on working as a team and working together more than individuals and that'll help us more in the future and over these next couple games.”

Winning their most recent game is a good start.