McALLEN – All eyes are on the court with the high school volleyball season underway. It’s an exciting time at campuses across the Valley, including McAllen High.

"A lot of the younger girls get really nervous on having to come in and get started, but all of us play year round and it's just like another practice. It's super exciting, we look forward to this day all summer,” said McAllen senior setter Carter Helmcamp.

With upperclassmen and younger players in the mix for spots in the rotation, the Bulldogs are focused on winning a district title and making a deep run in the postseason once again.

“We’re going to lead them and guide our team to do our best,” said McAllen senior outside hitter Victoria Rogers. “We’re going to win a lot, but I think our team is going to back us up as well and gel together.”

The Bulldogs lost a couple of seniors who moved on to play at the division 1 level. The team’s goal this season is to get past the sweet 16 round. Their rivals at McAllen Memorial, also made it to the sweet 16 last year, and they have similar aspirations.

“I don’t really think it’s so much as pressure for us,” said McAllen Memorial senior setter Lexi Kruse. “I think it’s just how far can we go this year? We did great last year. Now it’s can we do better?”

To get ready for playoff-caliber teams, the Mustangs are beefing up their schedule with an early-season tournament in San Antonio.

“We’re super excited to go to San Antonio,” said McAllen Memorial junior middle blocker Jocelynn Everage. “We get to see bigger teams. We usually go into the playoffs not really knowing what the teams look like, so we have to do a lot of research. But seeing these teams beforehand will give us a good vision of what we need to do.”

Valley volleyball teams will play their first matches of the season next week.