The South High girls volleyball team has a lot of reasons to believe it’ll be even better than last year’s 17-12 record.
Three of the biggest reasons are Elizabeth Casey, Anna Deng and Laura Wu.
The senior trio is back after posting the three highest kill numbers for the Pirates last year. Wu had 141, Deng had 134 and Casey had 126. Together, they accounted for 65 percent of the Pirates’ kills.
“We have like a three-headed monster up front and they’re not always on the court at the same time but in terms of just stats, you can see that we are able to very evenly distribute the ball and that in itself is our biggest thing going into the year,” said South head coach Kevin Lynch. “That is like the biggest positive thing I’d say going into the year – that we have a lot of girls we can set that I’m confident can get the kill.”
The Pirates’ offense has the experience back while they’ll be searching for replacements on defense for graduated libero and captain Alice Wei (206 digs), middle Nicole Ezefili (30 blocks and 90 kills) and defensive specialist Riya Gupta (64 digs). One of their top returning defensive players is Pranavi Pamireddy, the setter who is back and also instrumental to the offense after delivering 453 assists in her freshman year.
“Part of that goes to the fact that she has these great hitters to set, but e specially as a freshman, the fact that she was able to get to some of these balls, she’s confident, it’s exactly who you want,” Lynch said. “That’s like the quarterback on the court. That’s what I always tell her. And she does a good job at it.”
The Pirates will open with a huge test for their team. Defending Group 3 state champion Princeton visits on Tuesday, Sept. 1, before South hosts Hightstown on Friday, Sept. 4. Rival North High hosts the Pirates on Wednesday, Sept. 9.
“We can become a really strong team if we combine all our individual strengths,” Wu said. “I think for us it’s gonna be a lot of trying to keep on pushing till the end. I think a lot of the time last year we struggled to kind of just close out sets cleanly and also just play our game regardless of who’s playing on the other side. I think that for us it’s gonna be really important to have a mentality of the game’s not over until it’s actually over and to just keep on pushing till the end.”
Five of South’s losses last year came in the third set. Turning those around alone would make for a huge difference, and returning some of their firepower should go a long way in helping the cause.
“I’m proud of being able to contribute to the team’s offense along with, of course, Laura and Lizzie,” Deng said. “And I definitely couldn’t do it without our setter as well in front of me. And I’m really excited for next year and we’re just hoping to build on our strong season last year and hopefully do even better this year.”
South’s big three hitters all made significant jumps from the year prior, and that has helped the Pirates climb from a team that won 18 games combined in their first two years of high school to one that won 17 games in their first year as regular starters last year.
“My sister also played before me on varsity,” said Casey, whose sister Keiko graduated in 2025. “And some of the players she played with were still going to be on my team, like the seniors who graduated last year was going to be on my team. So it was definitely exciting. And it was something completely different from JV because of expectations and the teams we play are different, like tri’s or bigger tournaments that we were playing. So it was more fun to be in varsity.”
After two years on junior varsity, Casey had 126 kills in her first season of varsity. She also had 62 aces, and her 96 digs lead all returning players. Her service game has been an important focus in the offseason that she hopes to use as a weapon, and she hopes to improve her defensive numbers too.
“I definitely do expect more, especially because there was other players with better digs,” she said. “I think that’s my weak point personally, and I’m really thankful that I have someone that I could kind of trust to be contributing that part to our team.”
Deng had appeared in a number of games her sophomore year, but all of her numbers climbed immensely last year as a junior, from 50 kills to 134, from 39 digs to 91 and from 32 aces to 55.
“Being well-rounded is a really important aspect of the game,” Deng said. “Obviously, it starts with the serve. I think we have a lot of strong servers on our team with Lizzie, Pranavi, Laura and myself, and I think that’s one of the best parts of our game as a team. And passing, I think on the serve receive side, I’ve been really working hard to improve in the offseason. So I’m hoping to be able to do better at my serve receive and defense this year, and hopefully I’ll get more opportunities to play in the back row as well.”
Deng went to nationals with her Princeton Volleyball Club and has been working hard at developing her game further. Most of the South volleyball team plays club outside of school to gain more experience. The commitment of the Pirates’ players has helped to build up the program.
“A lot of the club experience is just really helpful to kind of give you experience on the court playing with a bunch of different people and different coaching,” Deng said. “And I also was at some open gyms with my friends and my teammates.”
Wu is the top returning blocker after stopping 29 hits last year. She had two blocks as a sophomore. She also had 48 aces, five better than the year before. Her biggest jump came in kills, where she powered down 101 more kills than a year before. Some of that change was because she moved from playing mostly in the back as a sophomore to a hitting position. She’ll continue to be a big hitter for the Pirates while also trying to improve her blocking.
“My sophomore year I didn’t play front row a lot and then last year when I got into the front row I was mainly playing in the middle so blocking was really important for me,” Wu said. “It was actually a bit of a challenge for me at first. I think throughout the season I got better and better at it. And for this year, I think during the offseason, when I played club volleyball I tried a lot to focus on my blocking because I really want to improve that for this year to hopefully help the team out more.”
The Pirates have been on the rise. They reached the semifinals of their Central Jersey Group 3 sectional a year ago, and this year hope to compete for the crown and a higher spot in the competitive Burlington County Scholastic League-Colonial Valley Conference Division.
“We always want some type of championship, whether that be BCSL, sectional, state,” Lynch said. “So just hoping to definitely improve and with the girls that we have this year, I think it’s very possible. So my expectations are high.”
The numbers have been increasing each year for tryouts, and that gives South a good feeder program for varsity, with the ability to support both freshman and junior varsity programs. This year, the Pirates return a strong group from a year ago led by their top three hitters. Fellow seniors Isabella Cittone, Judy Sakran and Vivian Schladt all played some varsity last year. Junior Anjali Gadam also saw varsity time last year.
“Anna and Lizzie and a couple other seniors, we really just try to bring everyone together and try and have everyone with the same mindset and the same goal of trying to improve and get better for the tryouts and the season in general,” Wu said. “So I think as a senior, I’ve really been trying to focus on bringing everyone together and also just making sure everyone stays focused and driven through trying to achieve a common goal.”
Beyond this year, they all are hoping to remain close to the game. Volleyball has been an important piece of their lives. Wu enjoys the camaraderie of the sport, just as she enjoys spending time with friends and trying new restaurants. She’s looking to stay in the game after graduation.
“I definitely hope to continue playing volleyball because I think that it’s such a great way to get to know new people and also get close with others,” Wu said. “Especially because it’s a team sport I feel like you really get to make those connections with others.”
Casey is heavily invested in the sport as a manager for the South boys volleyball team, and she handles a lot of social media for the boys and girls teams. She is lined up to follow in the footsteps of her mother, who is one of the Pirates’ coaches.
“I would love coaching because I’ve done that,” Casey said. “I volunteered for volleyball camps and I love teaching little kids volleyball. So that’s definitely something I’ll probably like doing because I love the game. I love watching volleyball. I love supporting a team as well as playing it obviously.”
Off the volleyball court, Deng is an outstanding pianist who balances practicing and competing with her commitments to the sport. Volleyball has been her top sport since giving up competitive figure skating early in high school. She hopes to continue volleyball at the club level, but first she’d like to help the Pirates reach new heights.
“This year as seniors, it’s our last kind of chance,” Deng said. “So we’re really looking to put our all into it and just try to work together and come away with the best result possible for our team.”
