After starting their season ranked ninth in the nation, boys’ volleyball has moved up the rankings all the way to number one. With a winning streak of 12-0, it seems the boys are on their way to winning state and have a high chance of maintaining their position until the end of the season. 

Going into the season their team goals were to “do things the right way, practice hard, be respectful and care about each other,” head coach Ryan Tolman said, and that winning is simply a byproduct of their hard work throughout the season. 

According to Tolman, his boys play “the Perry way” by trying not to pay too much attention to their national and state rankings and by practicing hard “no matter what” happens during matches. 

 The team is looking forward to their future games against Hamilton and Chandler. “We’re just watching film and getting prepared,” senior Canyon Smith said.  Watching videos of past matches allows the team to understand what plays were flawed and how they can clean them up and improve them before another big game. 

Hamilton, with a record of 4-3, and Chandler with a 4-4 record, are some of the boys’ biggest in-state competition. Their performance during their next games will help set the tone for the remainder of the season. The boys later beat Hamilton 3-0 on Apr. 13, allowing them to continue cementing their position as number one in the nation. 

Looking at practices, “Coach Tolman’s making sure our practices are really good” Smith also said, and that as a team they’re “putting in a lot of time” to make sure they stay at the top of their game.  

As a team they talk a lot about how “it’s not how you start but how you finish” and that they “would like to finish as strong as we’ve started,” Tolman said.  

“It is pretty weird to think about” being number one in the nation, Sophomore Tyler McBurney said, and that the performance from the upperclassmen “sets the bar higher for me to play up to” in coming years. 

Some advice for upcoming volleyball players, varsity and junior varsity alike, would be to “Have fun and just be aggressive,” Smith said. 

The example that the current seniors and juniors are setting for the upcoming members may allow for a smooth transition for the team as a whole after losing a good portion of their starting players. 

By possibly ending this season with the title of number one in the nation, a lot of responsibility is put on the boys that will have to fill the shoes of the seniors who helped bring the team to multiple consecutive victories so far this season.