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The Cumberland Dukes split their first two games of the volleyball season. Starting off with Franklin High, they beat the Broncos 3-0. Then Cumberland High followed up on Saturday, falling just short 2-1 against Charlottesville. It’s a start that shows the coaching staff where things are at. It’s also a culmination of the pre-season training the team endured to prepare. 

“In the off-season we do two weeks for three hours,” Dukes Head Coach DaRon Harvey said, speaking of the training the athletes completed in the weeks leading up to the season. “Cardio, weightlifting, and then we go back to fundamental volleyball…so when the season comes we don’t need to worry about fundamentals, we can just go right into what we need to do.”

The training is a required step for the Cumberland High School volleyball team’s goal of making it into regional play, which requires them to be in the top eight of the 11 schools in Cumberland’s 1B region. After this, their hope is to make it to the regional finals.

The first stop on Cumberland’s road to the regional finals is the upcoming Blue Banner Tournament. The team will be playing five others throughout their day-long time at the tournament, and Harvey is hoping to make it to the tournament finals for the first time since Cumberland began playing at Blue Banner. “It would bring a new experience for the girls to learn from,” he said. 

Harvey views the sport not just as a competition, but as another way of teaching the Cumberland High School team. “It teaches you how to handle adversity, and how to handle certain situations when they’re thrown back in your face,” he said. But just as important as dealing with adversity is learning balance. “If you’re a student athlete you should be able to balance – not only athletics and school, but the mental aspect as well. Because what you learn on the court are the same things that will help you in life.”

Pressure is inevitable

But for a team that has never made it to the finals, pressure is inevitable. Harvey’s method for alleviating some of that pressure is to make sure the athletes know that they’re only responsible for themselves: “Play your best. Be great at what you do, and let everyone else take care of what they need to take care of.”

Trusting in teammates works best when you get along with them, something that works out in the Cumberland volleyball team’s favor. His athletes are friends, Harvey says, and they “all share the same goal and all strive for the same thing”. When that thing is making it to regional finals, something they have not accomplished during his tenure as coach, there is a lot of work to be done. 

Harvey believes that the Cumberland High School volleyball team is up for the task. “They are truly a team that can go all the way,” he said of his students. “We’ll see how they put it all together, but I’m excited for this season and they are too, so we’re just going to go out there and put on a show for all the fans that come out to watch.”

What’s next for the Cumberland Dukes?

The Cumberland Dukes have a break before they get back on the court Sept. 12, for a home match against Randolph-Henry High. That match is set for 7 p.m.