Mac Friday is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Horizon Honors for AZPreps365.com

For the Horizon Honors girls volleyball team, playing at home has been anything but comfortable this season. Home sweet home it’s not.

With four home games under their belt, the Eagles remain winless playing inside their own gym. They have lost 12 sets overall in those four losses, with only one set win to their name.

“We’ve really been struggling with our mental status,” senior captain Jordan Cook said. “There’s just something about playing at home that we don’t connect with and I don’t really know what (the problem) is.”

Cook and fellow senior captains Madi Rowlee and Camryn Marshall have been stepping up into roles to inspire and connect with the younger, more inexperienced faces on the team.

“I think our captains our doing a great job in connecting with the younger players,” coach Kris Maglunog said. “It’s important they help (the younger players) understand what expectations are needed to play against these bigger types of teams.”

Marshall and Rowlee believe lack of self-confidence, inexperience and intimidation have each played a role in the team’s inefficiencies.

“A lack of confidence in each other and trying to find ways to stay out of our own heads is what can really bring us down,” Rowlee said. “We need to start with a mentality of playing our own game, we need to make sure we focus on ourselves, not anyone else.”

Horizon Honors schedule has not been friendly. Valley Christian, Chandler Prep, Scottsdale Christian and Phoenix Country Day all boast winning records and only hold a combined four losses between themselves.

“We just need to get over the fact we are playing tougher teams,” Maglunog said. “We can’t worry about them; we need to only worry about ourselves.”

Despite their issues at home, the Eagles are poised to rebound. The team recently grabbed a huge road win against the team that knocked them out of last year’s state tournament, Fountain Hills.

Following two wins in their tournament in Snowflake this past weekend, the Eagles will travel to Yuma to face region opponent Yuma Catholic on Tuesday, then return home to Chandler to face Coronado.