The clock ticks toward 6:30 p.m. and one athlete after another files into the high school gym. Laces tighten. Shoulders loosen. The chatter fades as the young women drop into stretches and passing the ball between partners.

It’s volleyball season, and this year could be a big one.

The team is poised to start competition Friday, Oct. 3, at the JIVE tournament at Juneau-Douglas High School, and assistant coach Brian Herman said the roster tells the story. The Wolves opened with 23 athletes and kept nearly all of them.

“We only lost three,” he said. “We’ve got 20 students on the team, and we’re looking at possibly getting a junior varsity squad together. We’ve never had that before.”

Herman credits the surge to momentum built before the players ever set foot on a varsity court.

“A lot of the girls on our team came from that middle school program, and they decided to stick with it in high school,” he said. “I think what we’re seeing — and will continue to see — is that success breeds success.”

From the sideline, Herman can’t help but feel optimistic as lines of hitters rotate through approach drills and defenders slide to target. The energy is matched by head coach Shelly Powers, who sees a freshman class changing the gym’s temperature.

“They’re so athletic and talented. There’s so much talent there,” Powers said. “And if you think about it, there are approximately 60-ish students in high school, and 20 of those students are on this team. So, one-third of the high school is on the team.”

That buy-in is turning into sweat equity. Powers said a few freshmen started asking to come early and stay late — and others followed. “The enthusiasm is contagious,” she said.

The staff’s message, though, isn’t complicated.

“Right now, our main goal is unity,” Powers said. “The big thing is getting the whole team to be in sync with each other on the court. That is so important. That’s a primary focus right now.”

There are realities to manage. With 20 players and only one full court in the gym, the coaches are juggling reps and attention.

“It’s difficult to address different areas that need work when you can’t separate players by skill level,” Herman said. “We don’t have a second court to use at the same time so we can have girls on both sides.”

For now, improvisation fills the gaps. The team strings a badminton net from the main standard to a freestanding post to create a second lane for serving, passing and controlled scrimmage work.

“We’re doing what we can for now,” Herman said. “But getting two courts next to each other would definitely be a welcome thing.”

Even with constraints, the depth is new — and noticeable.

“That is really exciting,” Herman said. “We’re used to having to rely on four or five players throughout every game. The fact that we have about nine really strong position players is very encouraging.”

Only three seniors dot the roster, a sign the wave may have staying power. If the underclass core grows together, the program could be stacked for seasons to come.

The focus, though, is the present: the next drill, the next ball, the next match. “You never know how things are going to go,” Herman said, “but I think there’s a good reason for us to be optimistic.”