The Arizona College Prep girls volleyball team is entering its first season in the Class 3A conference. The ACP volleyball program, with the rest of the high school’s athletics, has moved up from 2A based on the high school’s increased enrollment.

Due to the move up to 3A, the team is facing a lineup of new opponents this season, and each will provide its own unfamiliar challenges, but Coach Heather Orr said she is excited to face better competition. Last season, Orr’s first year coaching the girls varsity team, the Knights were undefeated (18-0), securing a spot in the state tournament, before they lost in the first round.

“This year we’re playing a lot tougher schools, which we’re all about,” Orr said. “We didn’t really get any better last year playing schools that weren’t as talented as us.”

In their first matchup of 2018, the Knights swept one of the top teams in their new conference, Valley Christian, which was ranked No. 8 in 3A last year.

Team captain and senior Daria Sukhareva attributed the win to the team’s chemistry.

“Valley Christian has a lot of talent,” Sukhareva said. “But we have something more special, and that’s that we’re all unified and like a family, so we use that to pull us through.

The team’s other captain, junior Krista Rowan, described their main jobs as captains to ensure the team stays unified and has a goal going into each matchup. They are responsible for picking the team up anytime they’re down and are always cheering the loudest whether on the court or on the sidelines.

Despite shutting out a top team in their new division, Orr has a list of fundamentals and strategies to focus on in the coming practices that Valley Christian exposed as key weaknesses. The list includes tweaks to the Knights’ defense, refining their set tempo and improving their serve receive.

 “There are plenty of things we still need to work on on the court,” Orr said. “But the intangible of the gelling of the team, the loving of each other, that’s there. And that’s how we won.”

As for the rest of the season, Sukhareva and Rowan said they are most looking forward to the game against Fountain Hills, the reigning 3A champion.

But Orr said she’s always looking forward to the next game. There’s no way to know how to prepare for each opponent individually, or how each individual matchup will challenge the ACP Knights. Orr is just taking it one game at a time, tweaking the team’s strategy as needed.

The girls have some time to patch any holes that are revealed in the coming games before the pivotal matchup against Fountain Hills. The Knights travel to Fountain Hills High School on Oct. 4 then host the previous state champs at home on Oct. 23.