The Rochelle volleyball program hosted its annual Purple vs. White scrimmage at Rochelle Township High School on Thursday, with players from the freshman level through the varsity level getting their first taste of in-game action before tipping off the 2018 season.

The Lady Hubs are returning several players from last year’s varsity team who are looking to piece together more strong performances this fall. While there are new players and a new head coach in Molly Sly leading the way, the girls entered Thursday evening eager to get back on the floor again.

“I’m really excited to play with my team,” senior Emma Mehrings said. “We always have a fun time together and we’re a really close team. We always laugh with each other and I think we’re going to have a fun time this year.”

Rochelle opens its season with a nonconference game at Ashton-Franklin Center on Tuesday. The freshmen will play at 5 p.m. while the sophomores follow at 6 p.m. and varsity caps off the evening at 7 p.m. The Lady Hubs are striving for more victories this fall after a pair of tough seasons in 2016 and 2017.

“I’m excited for what we’re able to bring this year,” senior Sarah Craven said. “We have a different team dynamic with the younger girls coming up and I feel like we’re closer as a team. It’s been more intense and I think we’ve been working a lot harder than last year. The intensity is definitely higher.”

Several seniors took the floor for the varsity team on Thursday including Craven, Mehrings, Grace Orlikowski, Emily Engelkes, Abby Tilton, Kelsey Thompson and Shelby Sanderson. Rochelle’s junior class featured Katie Van Hise, Maggie Duval, Caitlin Hensley, Gabrielle Harding, Emma Smith and Allison Seebach. Sophomore Clare Green also saw frequent reps at the setter position.

The Lady Hubs host Dixon on Thursday, Aug. 23 at 5 p.m. for their first home games of the season. Rochelle’s first tournament is the Rockford East Invitational on Saturday, Aug. 25 and the girls open conference play against Ottawa on Tuesday, Sept. 11.

“I think our goal is to play really well together and connect on the court,” Mehrings said. “Those are big things for us. We want to have a good time and work as hard as we can. We’re working together to get our passes, sets and hits down so we can play good offense.”

“We want to have an overall better record and we want to work better as a team,” Craven said. “We’re definitely working hard on our serve-receives and coach [Sly] is having us work on them every day during practice… She’s really trying to make it happen for us this year.”