With a promising win over district rival Highland Park (19-17 overall, 5-1 in district), the volleyball team (28-9, 6-0) looks to keep the focus on their side of the net for the rest of the first round of district beginning with a game away at West Mesquite (1-16, 0-6) tonight at 5 p.m.

“The emphasis is really to focus on us,” Nicholson said. “Once we get to the second round, that’ll be more about figuring out who our opponent is and start to get a read on what they’re doing. We still got a lot of stuff on our side we want to work on and get better at.”

Even though they won Tuesday’s game against Wylie East (10-17, 3-3), the girls dropped the third set, a mistake that did not sit very well with team, senior Allie Moger said.

“I think we didn’t realize the bad volleyball that we were actually playing,” Moger said. “We were just going through the motions. We should have treated them like they were a better team.”

In a close match, the volleyball team was able to come out with a win over Highland Park Friday night at home.

“I think Highland Park actually played very well,” Nicholson said. “They had some issues throughout the preseason, they weren’t really healthy. So I was hoping they were still a little bit behind as far as where they wanted to be. But they came out and played a very good game.”

The Leopards won the first set 25-23, starting strong and coming out ready to play, yet this energy began to decline as they dropped set 2 (22-25) and 3 (27-29) to the Scots.

“I feel like we were confident in the first set, and after winning, we just let off the gas a little bit,” senior Shanel Bramschreiber said. “We got more comfortable and you can’t ever get comfortable, otherwise teams like Highland Park can come back in [the game].”

The girls regrouped and were able to win the fourth set, forcing a fifth set, somewhat of a rare occurrence for the team. However, they did not let the pressure get to them and came out on top in the fifth set, 15-13.

“I think our girls feel that we were fortunate to come out with a win,” Nicholson said. “With as close as it was, and how close we were to being on the other side of victory with a loss, I don’t think it will be a problem to get the girls rolling.”

Nicholson said a win like this one allows the team to be able to reflect on what will need to happen as they go through district, as they will eventually face the Scots again (Oct. 27), this time on Highland Park’s home floor.

“I think going into their home gym we will really have to focus on our energy and on our side of the court rather than their side,” Bramschreiber said. “They’ll definitely have a big crowd trying to get in our heads.”