Last month, the Washington and Lee volleyball team lost their second game of the season to Berry College, dropping their re- cord to 1–1. Since then they have refused to lose, reeling 13 in a row and owning a 14-2 record.

While some teams thrive because of the depth of their experience, this iteration of W&L volleyball has relied instead on the depth of their roster, as 10 of the 16 players on the roster are underclassmen, including seven freshmen.

“Every match or every other match we have had a different player who has been our best offensive player or our best defensive player, our best server or something like that,” Head Coach Bryan Snyder said. “As a coach I would like to get to the point where we are all playing that well at the same time but we have usually had one or two people play really well and nobody play really poorly. We haven’t had that match where we didn’t have a hot hitter.”

One of those hot hitters has been senior co-captain Kenzie Shand, ’17, who was named first-team all ODAC honors in her sophomore and junior years along with All-American honorable mentions in those years. While Shand does not want to think about the end of her college career, she knows and appreciates just how much she has grown as a player in her four years in Lexington.

“Freshman year I was definitely one of those ‘try to bang some balls’ kinds of girls instead of making smart shots. I wanted the pretty kill instead of the smart one,” said Shand. “If they throw me into defense or serving I have confidence in myself that I can do that.”

While Shand has a great impact on the team through her play as a middle blocker, Snyder also appreciates the impact she and her co-captain, Vicky Kazmierczak, ’17, have off the court.

“They have done a great job being force- ful enough to mold the team in the right di- rection, but not in an overbearing manner where they are not a part of it,” Snyder said. “They are also great examples because they show up every day, they work hard and they have a great relationship with the coaching staff.”

The Generals return to action on Oct. 5 against Mary Washington.