WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers FOCUSED—Grace Brethren's Abbie Windham passes the ball. A new league is helping to produce new results for the Grace Brethren girls' volleyball team.

After failing to post a .500 record in the Alpha or Tri-Valley leagues for the past three years, Grace Brethren moved to the Frontier League this season and was 8-2 overall, 5-1 in league play entering Thursday night's match at home against Santa Paula.

Grace Brethren only trails Nordhoff High (6-0 in league) in the Frontier League standings. The two schools will meet one more time in a makeup match Saturday night at Nordhoff. Game time is set for 6 p.m.

"Winning has been great," senior Katie Dye said. "It feels like all the hard work we've put in over the last few years is finally paying off."

Grace Brethren head coach Peter Harabedian said a big reason for the team's success is its experience.

"We didn't lose anyone from last year, and the majority of this team are seniors that have played for me since their freshman year," Harabedian said.

"The experience helps because the players know what to expect from me. It's a lot easier in practice, and it's a lot easier to communicate with the girls to work on plays."

Two of the seniors making an impact are co-captains Abbie Windham and Dye.

"Dye is a big hitter for us who usually gets about 10 kills a game," Harabedian said. "Windham is a returning setter who has great leadership skills. She does a great job of keeping this team together both on and off the court."

Other seniors playing well include middle blocker Victoria Callihan, outside hitter Becky Kelley, defensive specialist Megan Woodard and libero Jessica Gist. Freshman Karsen Spear has also contributed at opposite hitter.

Harabedian has been especially impressed with Woodard this season.

"Woodard would be our libero, but I want her to attack a little more, so I put her in the back row," Harabedian said.

"She's a very good blocker, and whoever is the big hitter on the opposing team, she makes it her goal to stop that person. She doesn't feel a lot of pain, and she's not afraid of anyone on the court."

Although a new league has meant an increased number of wins, Harabedian said the change in competition hasn't been all good news.

"It's been kind of detrimental because when we were in the TriValley League we were losing to some bigger schools," Harabedian said.

"This year the schools are a little smaller, and our competition isn't what it used to be. Even if you make the playoffs, you're eventually going to play tough teams. Now it's tougher to prepare for the playoffs."

To get the Lancers playing against high-caliber volleyball teams, Harabedian had Grace Brethren practice with numerous girls from Master's College, including Windham's older sister, Leslie.

"We usually play better when our competition is better," Abby Windham said. "So when the girls from Master's College came to work out with us it really helped. They gave us a lot of good advice and told us to never give up. When we are having struggles on the court, just push through it."

Harabedian said the biggest issue he's had with his team is getting the Lancers to believe in themselves.

"Athlete to athlete, this is the best team I've ever coached here," Harabedian said. "But it's all relative. Everything comes in cycles, and every few years you're going to get a great team. I'm not sure they realize the importance of this year yet, but they have the ability to play like the best team in the CIF."

Abby Windham is starting to believe her coach.

"At the beginning of the year we didn't know anything about our new league, and we didn't know what to expect," she said. "Our coach, however, was constantly telling us that we had a lot of talent. I'm starting to finally realize he was right."