The ball flies over the net and out of bounds. Sophomore Arianna Mongare retrieves the ball and gets ready to serve it to the opposing team. She glances toward the person who mentored her since the start of her freshman season. Her sister, senior Trinity Mongare, mouths the word ‘swing,’ and she takes a hard swing to the ball. It flies over the net. After another set of plays, the volleyball team records their second set as a win.

The Mongare sisters played together in the first playoff game against North Side High School which resulted in a 3-0 win for the Broncos. After a 7-4 district season and a 14-20 overall season, they climbed the 5A Region 1 District 5 Standings and claimed third with a winning streak of three games. 

“The district season was very good compared to our preseason because preseason was very rough, but we used our disappointments to make it work for us and that led us to third place in the district,” Trinity said. “We predicted that we would have better statistics because North Side was a lower level team, but we did not expect them to come out as hard as they did. We were all fighting to win, but we underestimated them.”

Trinity hopes to make her last season in high school the most memorable by making it past the second round of playoffs with her sister. The girls will play Grapevine High School at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 7 at Arlington High School.

“I want us to go farther this year than we have before because if we end up beating Grapevine, it will be very satisfying,” Trinity said. “They may look better than us statistically and rank wise, but in the end, we want it more.”  

Her sister shares the same hopes, as she looks forward to playing another round with her sister. Volleyball promotes healthy competition between them.

“I hope to make it past round two and keep fighting to the end of the finish line,” Arianna said.  “But if we don’t I’m nervous to play without her because she’s been here the last year and now to show me the ropes.”