Sam Valenti is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Metro Tech High School for AZPreps365.com.

Last season, Metro Tech High School's girls volleyball team achieved its ultimate goal of winning a 5A Metro region championship. After finishing the season with an overall record of 11-6 and an 8-2 record in region play, the Knights stood at the 5A Metro mountaintop. This season, Metro Tech is determined to keep its success going with new talent on the court.

Metro Tech is a young team that has something to prove, which is unusual for a team coming off a championship season. Most of the players from that championship team are no longer on the roster, having been replaced with fresh faces who want to make their own mark while also continuing the success from the previous season.

With so much young talent, some might expect the Knights to have a drop off this season. That hasn’t been the case. Metro Tech has performed well with the new talent stepping up to contribute.

“Our goal is to win over 10 games and build our younger group,” head coach Bryan Heckler said. “We have a lot of juniors and sophomores that are contributing, so having those sophomores and juniors continue to improve [is another goal].”

While the Knights want to do their best to defend their crown, it will be tough with a target on their back and other teams looking to take the crown for themselves. 

“I feel like there kind of is [some pressure on us],” junior Alyssa Cuevas said. “We’re going up against a lot of the same teams and we’re kind of the ones to beat because we won last year.”

So far this season, the Knights have been performing well in their region with a 4-2 record, and a 6-4 record overall. Metro Tech can perform at a high level, but there are things that need to be worked on.

“We have been struggling a bit in some games,” junior Krystabelle Rios said. “Honestly, I feel like we just need to communicate a little more. But I think overall we’re doing good.”

Cuevas and Rios are juniors on a team that features only a few seniors, making the presence of veteran leadership that much more important.

“We do have a couple veterans that have varsity experience so they’re very important,” Heckler said. “There’s a big change from playing JV volleyball to varsity volleyball, so to have those experiences playing at that type of level is very important.”

Looking ahead at the rest of the schedule, the Knights have some winnable games coming up that could boost their record. The most important matchups for Metro Tech in its remaining schedule are against McClintock and South Mountain, who are the top two teams in the 5A Metro region with the Knights currently in third. If the Knights can win those two games and some others as well, there’s a chance they can make a run for first place and take the championship once more.