Just under a year ago, Carly Skjodt, varsity player and junior, and the rest of her varsity volleyball team walked off the court at Ball State with a gut-wrenching feeling. The team had just lost in the 2012 State final.

“It was kind of unbelievable that the experience went by so fast,” Skjodt said.

Grace Muller, varsity player and senior, agrees that the outcome was disappointing, but points out how far the team had come last season, being the first volleyball team in Carmel’s history to make it to the State Final.

“Although it was a loss, it couldn’t take away from our amazing season,” Muller said.

The volleyball team, which has lost only one game so far this year, wraps up its regular season by hosting the Carmel Invitational on Oct. 19. On Oct. 22, the team will have its first Sectional match in the IHSAA State tournament.

Athletics director Jim Inskeep said he feels confident in the volleyball team’s ability going into the State tournament this year.

“I think they’re playing with a sense of urgency in all matches, and they’ve gotten better, they’ve gotten stronger, they’re jumping higher and it’s been really fun to watch them,” Inskeep said.

Inskeep also thinks this team will respond well when faced with adversity.

“I think this team plays with a confidence, not arrogance, but a confidence, and they’re going to go on a run when they need to,” Inskeep said.

During this 2013 regular season, Carmel has already beat Avon, the 2012 State champions.

“It was treated as just another game. We had our expectations of what we could do as a team and just executed the plan. We redeemed ourselves from last year though,” Skjodt said.

Muller agreed, “We took the emotion out of it and played hard and focused. It was a great game and a great win.”

The team is preparing and improving themselves more and more  every day, according to team members.

“We are working on everything: blocking, defense, hitting and serve receive to really make sure it is spot on and improving every day. Each day we work on it, we get better at it,” Muller said.

In terms of goals for this season, Muller said the team would love to make it back to the State tournament, but she isn’t getting ahead of herself.

“Right now our focus is on winning the Sectional first, then taking it game by game,” Muller said.

Skjodt has similar feelings and said that if the team keeps working as hard as it have been in practice, it can hopefully achieve  a better outcome this year.

“I have a lot of faith in what my team can accomplish together, but we still have a lot of work to do if we want to win the State championship,” Skjodt said.

Likewise, Inskeep is optimistic about this year’s team.

“This team is still really hungry from last year. They made the State championship and felt like they left an opportunity out there on the table and they didn’t take it. So I think their expectation is to make it back and bring home the first State championship in volleyball for our school,” Inskeep said.

The journey to State begins Oct. 22 at North Central.