It's 4 o’clock in the afternoon and all you can hear is the sound of ball hitting the hardwood.

Paula Spratlen-Mitchell leads her South Mountain volleyball team through practice.

“You move, everybody moves,” Spratlen-Mitchell says as she coaches her team on defensive rotations.

Last year, her team finished 21-6. This year is a different story.

“We are in a challenging place right now because we know we can be better,” Spratlen-Mitchell said. “We just haven’t been able to translate that into match play. We have seniors. We also have a nucleus off freshman, so it’s a mix.”

The Jaguars are off to a disappointing 2-8 start and have won only three sets in their last four matches.

The team lost six seniors to graduation last year and in their place are four freshmen. Spratlen-Mitchell’s newest challenge is keeping her team motivated despite the poor start.

“I am going to ask them to reflect and see when they’re going back to serve, when they’re getting ready to hit, what are the voices saying in their head,” Spratlen-Mitchell said. “Are they cautionary? Are they saying, ‘I hope that,’ or are they telling themselves, ‘Yes I can do that.’”

Senior outside-hitter Janae Gwan believes the biggest challenge has been the lack of chemistry.

“We lost a lot of our chemistry on the court, which made everything run cohesively. We need a lot of trust, dedication, passion and heart,” Gwan said. “Were all individual people and were all strong individuals so when we get together it’s hard to make that mesh.”

But successful teams often need more than a coach to motivate them. Gwan and fellow freshman setter Yasmine Cannon are embracing their roles as leaders. Gwan brings energy to the group and Cannon instills belief into her fellow freshmen.

“I’ve always been told I’m an energy hub so people usually feed off of me,” Gwan said. “As long as I stay up and stay out of my head I’ll be good and my team feeds off of me and then we can feed off of each other and it’s all good and well after that.”

Cannon added: “When I’m on the court and they’re feeling down I make sure that they’re good. I make sure that they know their capable of playing varsity and making it all four years.”

Cannon and Co. remain optimistic. And it all starts with the confidence instilled by Spratlen-Mitchell and the belief surrounding the program.

“We can do this,” Cannon said. “We are capable of playing these teams and beating them.”

South Mountain plays at home against Central Wednesday at 6 o’clock.