Being ‘family to each other’ key as Pope looks to make a run at a third state title in five years
When it comes to Georgia High School Association sports, volleyball is among those in which teammates can compete with one another for up to 30 games or more, creating hundreds of hours of time spent together, and when you add multiple seasons into the equation, majority of their they are spent with one another over the course of a season.
“This season, we have truly been like a family to each other. We’re super close and we operate like a sisterhood,” Pope Greyhounds junior middle hitter, Raegan Marshman, said of the relationship between the Greyhounds teammates and the impact it has had on the season, in which they have a 30-7 record (as of the time of this article) and finished first in the GHSA Class 6A, Region 6 standings.
“So, it’s really easy to trust each other on the court and a big word for this season has been ‘adjust’, so we’ve just been adjusting to each other and we’ve been adjusting to our opponents and that’s really helped us,” Marshman said. “Our coaches have just taught us the importance of adjusting to any situation,” Marshman added.
And for the Greyhounds, the adjustment heading into this season was going from hunted to hunter as their 2024 state title defense fell short when they were eliminated in the semifinals of the 2025 GHSA 5A state championship tournament by eventual champion, Woodward Academy.
“After last season, we were super motivated to come back stronger and keep working harder than ever,” Marshman, a team captain, said as she explained how the final four loss “was a sign to continue working and continue to trust our training and just building trust with each other on and off the court and being able to understand our competition,” Marshman said.
Marshman herself entered the season fresh off of a National Championship with her A5 Volleyball club and used the opportunity to work on specific areas to help her prepare for the season. “This summer I truly honed in on learning setter cues. As a middle [hitter], it’s very important to be able to read setters so that way I can efficiently close the block as fast as I can. And I worked on quickening my reaction time,” Marshman, who recently surpassed 100 career blocks, said.
The Pope standout has also been putting in work in the classroom, maintaining a 4.6 grade point average, while participating in the advance math and science program. “I’m very driven in the classroom as much as I am driven on the court so I’ve had to learn how to balance it ,” Marshman said, explaining her use of a google calendar to assist her with keeping her days organized, squeezing in time to study any time the opportunity presents itself.
And with winning a state championship the goal of Marshman and her teammates, “having consistent communication with each other while we’re on the court, continuing to trust each other and ensuring that we don’t play down to the level of our competition no matter how bad or good they are, but we play to the standard of Pope Volleyball. We have an amazing program and amazing team and we’re about to accomplish some amazing things,” Marshman said.
“We just need to remember that we’ve done the work and we just need to stay calm on the court and trust our training because we’ve worked hard,” Marshman said. Full interview with Raegan will air Oct. 14 on Sports Radio 92-9 The Game following the Atlanta United broadcast.
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