By Sammie Spillman ‘16

Even as coed volleyball has built a legacy as one of the best teams in the area and won the county title last year, it has a reputation as a less serious sport than others. After winning the county championship, Coach Pete Siarkas retired from leading the coed squad Bryan Clarke took over the program. Clarke graduated from Sherwood in 2002 and played coed on a team that won two county titles. Before this year Clarke previously coached boys’ volleyball at Watkins Mill.

The transition from a weaker program to a powerhouse has changed his attitude towards coaching. “Expectations are so much higher; just look at the history. They’ve won nine of the past 14 county championships. Tell the people that think coed is a joke to come to some of the matches this year. Division-one volleyball players have played coed,” said Clarke. “Of course, I want the coed team to have fun. It’s a neat dynamic with boys and girls competing with each other. At the same time I want this team to know that success is expected every year.”

All of the girls on coed also play girls’ JV or varsity volleyball in the fall. “Coed is a little more relaxed than girls but we still play to win. It has a different vibe since it’s boys and girls, but it’s fun to compete and play with boys,” said junior Alison Sarver. “The coaches [girls and coed] definitely have the same expectations. They are both intense and they love the game and just want to win. I think our new coach is going to do great this year and I hope we go far.”

One difference between  coed, and boys’ and girls’ volleyball is the rules. In coed the ball must be touched by a male and female before going over the net except for in a case of a block, unlike in the single gender sports where it can be hit over at any point. This slows down the game compared to the fast-paced boys’ and girls’ matches.

In the spring season, there are two volleyball teams, boys and coed. Newcomer to the team and senior captain Tommy Carswell, half-jokingly, said he tried out for coed as opposed to boys because of the fact that on coed there are girls and he loves girls. Although this may be some of the reason for trying out, others like it since it’s a different experience playing with the opposite gender. “I expect to win every game and I think everyone else does too, especially Jacob Spurrier [senior]; he is really determined to go undefeated,” said Carswell. “The coach is super chill and seems to know what he’s doing.”

What is a little unique about coed volleyball compared to the girls’ volleyball students are used to is that the road for the team ends at the county level. Montgomery County is the only county in the country to have a coed volleyball league at the high school level. This gives the chance for Sherwood’s team to call themselves state champions by winning counties.