Shenandoah takes undefeated season into tournament play

SARAHSVILLE, OH– The Shenandoah volleyball team finished their regular season with an undefeated record for the first time in school history. “The senior class I have right now came up with no seniors. It presented an opportunity for them to get experience early on. I have two seniors who have lettered all four years and the others lettered as sophomores. They had a lot of experience as underclassmen. They have showed a lot of maturity of the years.” Said head coach Megan Grywalski.

Experience can go a long way. The Zeps not only haven’t lost this season, but they have won 20 of their 23 games in straight sets. “Start really strong. The first time we played Union Local this year I really felt that in our first set we came out swinging hard, being aggressive, and showing that mental toughness that we’ve been working to build for the last 3 years.” Grywalski said.

Shenandoah has won two straight district titles. On Saturday they beat their rival Union Local to win the OVAC championship, something they fell short of last year. Coach Grywalski knew that feeling carried over. “On our team shirts we put the word redemption on the back. It was a really hard loss last year going to five sets and losing the way that we did was really hard. Even at the end of the year we had a big upset in regionals last year with TCC and that still sticks with us and was a hard pill to swallow.”

Lucky enough for the Zeps they get another opportunity this year heading into the OHSAA tournament, senior Mya Leach believes this team has seen a lot but is now ready. “We know what it takes to go to the state level. We’ve been really close each year. I definitely think this is the year we do it.”

Coach Grywalski can lead the first team in program history to have a perfect season ending with a state championship. “The expectation we set for ourselves is no longer hoping we can win, the expectation is that we get to state. We have a lot of pride, to the community and my players for all the hard work we put in. It would mean a whole lot to us all.”

Shenandoah’s first test of the sectional tournament is on Thursday against Bishop Rosecrans.