Thursday's regional matchup between the St. Mary’s Knights and Greenway Demons is a big deal for the six seniors on St. Mary’s roster. They have never beat Greenway, but are ready for the challenge.

“We have grown so much since the summer and since last year,” said Rylee Estrella, the senior team captain.

The anticipated matchup will happen at 6 p.m at Greenway.

St. Mary’s is 11-3 overall and Greenway is 14-5, including 1-0 in their region.

In the past, the team has had multi-sport athletes, which often took the focus off of big games such as this one. Players would have overlapping practice schedules or have games that interfered with one another, causing a shortage of players during practice and less time to do game-like drills.

After making the playoffs for the first time last year, the Knights are more focused than ever before, and their end goal is winning the state championship, which can’t happen unless they beat Greenway early on.

“This is the first year where we are 100 percent invested in winning,” said head coach September Lopez. “We went to playoffs last year, so now we know what high-intensity volleyball is like.”

St. Mary’s is putting just as much work in off the court as they are on the court. After school, the team attends study hall and weight training for an hour each and then practice from 5-7 p.m. Monday through Thursday and again on Saturday.

“The girls are on a strict ‘volleyball is life’ schedule,” Lopez said. “All of the little things matter because if we take care of the little things, then we will win. The win comes from the discipline.”

This year, the team believes it is closer than the teams they have had in the past. They hang out even when they are not out on the court and they all consider one another close friends.

“We all get along and that’s the big key to a team,” said Karla Ramirez, the senior team captain in charge of the front row. “We are all there for each other.”

The team has been training all season for this game. The entire first month of the season was dedicated to going back to the fundamentals of volleyball. Now they are working on hitting and blocking in more detail.

“I need my seniors and front row to step up for this game,” Lopez said. “They need to work hard just like they have been during the season thus far.”

“Whenever I am on the court, I pretend like the other team is Greenway,” said senior Maria Brittain. “Every practice, coach asks us, ‘What is your goal?’ and we always say, ‘To beat Greenway.’”

The best producing attackers for St. Mary’s are senior outside hitter and middle blocker Karla Ramirez and junior middle blocker and outside hitter Leilani Clark. Ramirez has 130 kills, 13 blocks and a .390 hitting percentage. Clark has 90 kills, 18 blocks and a .426 hitting percentage.

Greenway’s best producing attackers are senior middle blocker Grace Parrott and sophomore outside hitter Tatum Parrott. Grace Parrott has 77 kills, 32 blocks and a .344 hitting percentage. Tatum Parrott has 136 kills, 12 blocks and a .322 hitting percentage.

The Knights believe they have something their opponent does not that could help them tackle Greenway’s big hitters and blockers: their back row.

“They have a lot of strong hitters and when we play them, every ball that we attack aggressively, they could not pick up,” Ramirez said. “They just had a big front row and our back row was a lot faster and could read a lot more balls than theirs.”

Not only has this team improved in skill, but they have improved in confidence. Every game, they go in with the mentality that they are going to win. This game should be no different. They have not only prepared physically, but mentally.

“We have always been so close,” Estrella said. “Knowing that this year we have the chance to beat them means everything, and I believe that we can do it.”