While many high school juniors are busy reveling in their new-found “upperclassmenhood,” one member of the class of ’011 is doing things a little bit differently. Instead of kickin’ it on Alder after school, or sleeping in on the weekend, a spandex-clad Sofia Hirai can be found on the volleyball court in her spare time, knockin’ balls around like a pro.

Hirai started playing in fifth grade, just “messing around with friends in the backyard.” She played on the Mercer Middle School varsity team from sixth grade on, and was captain of the team for both seventh and eighth grade. But in her freshman year of high school she took off, trying out for club volleyball as well as school.  Starting in her first year on the prestigious club team, Cascades, Hirai then went on to make Garfield’s varsity team as a freshman.

Despite only having a year of highly competitive volleyball under her belt, Hirai developed into a key player for the Garfield squad in her sophomore year, leading the youngsters as the unofficial underclassmen captain. However, she was up to even bigger things on her club team, playing starting libero (or in baseball terms, a pitcher/catcher/shortstop who can sub herself on whenever she feels like it), and led her team to an impressive 16th place finish in the entire Puget Sound region.

School volleyball has not been quite so successful, but the team is still showing signs of improvement. This year, the team squared off against Olympia High School, the second ranked team in the state, and had them tied up until the end of both games, almost beating them. Still, their record is less than fear-inspiring, and Hirai acknowledges it.

“We’ve been on a bad streak,” she says, “and it’s kinda hard to bounce back.”

But she claims that the team is on its way up.

“We have a lot of underclassmen on the team, so next year … we’re gonna beast.”

While similar words have been uttered before, the team definitely deserves it. Everybody has been working hard, and a winning season seems to be largely in order. After all, playing volleyball is not for the iffy and uncommitted.

The club season starts in November, and runs all the way through to June. With two practices a week, and tournaments that take up the whole weekend at least twice a month, club volleyball is a major time commitment. Add three hours a day during the school volleyball season (the first three months of the year) to that, and playing becomes a large part of your life. Sofia manages to deal, however.

“With volleyball, you learn how to manage your time better.”

As annoyingly mature as that sounds, it seems to be true. Hirai juggles club and school volleyball, as well as three AP classes and a part-time job at Baskin-Robbins, and she seems to be handling everything well so far.

Her future in volleyball seems somewhat uncertain. Aside from her intentions to “beast” next year, Hirai has no particular plans. She hasn’t decided yet whether she wants to play in college and club volleyball doesn’t continue after high school. In the meantime though, she’s just going to keep doing her thing. The club season starts soon, and she doesn’t see any reason to stop.