The Ellsworth volleyball team is working hard to improve this season.

Ellsworth was shorthanded in play at home Saturday against Baldwin-Woodville and lost the match, but there were plenty of bright spots in the play for the tight-knit Panther group.

“We have a group of kids that work hard. They are great teammates and just want to improve. They are always going to play hard and work together. We have noticed some great improvements in serve receive passing when we have our normal rotation,” said coach Nicole VandeBerg. “Serve receive is improving for us. It is such a major part of the game that we need to continue to make strides, but it is getting better. _ We are just seeing a bunch of kids that haven't had a lot of playing time in the past get used to the speed of the varsity game._ We had a lot of seniors playing last year that a number of these kids were sitting behind, so although we have a lot of seniors and juniors on the court, they have very little experience._ As the season progresses, they are just getting better at playing the speed they need to._ The varsity game requires faster transitions from offense to defense, and we struggled with that early on in the season.”

The Panthers travel to Osceola Thursday night.

“We are really focusing on doing the little things right._ We need to clean up our unforced errors in order to improve our record, so our focus and goals have been oriented in that direction. _ Controlling the things we can, like serving in play, being in our defensive positions, always playing a third ball over and know that if we can do those things right, we will get better,” said VandeBerg.

Photos by John McLoone.