Olivia Guo has positive energy on her side each time she steps onto the volleyball court. And, just like the ball bounces from each set of hands to another during play, the Mercer Island High School senior captain shares that vibrancy with her teammates.
Toss some equally crucial chemistry and trust into the mix and the outside hitter and her mates are prepared for whatever opponent sits on their schedule.
Guo — who enters her fifth year playing the sport — likes what she sees happening with this year’s squad, which features six seniors.
“I think something special about this team is that the chemistry is really great. Everyone gets along really well. And not only that, when we’re struggling in games, there really isn’t a blame on one another, everyone is just trying their best to lift each other up,” said Guo, who captains the squad with fellow seniors Sophia Prock and Leila Obeidat.
At press time, the Islanders sported a 1-3 record, and Guo said she’d like to see the team work on consistency and minimizing errors.
Last season, the squad amassed an 11-8 overall record and finished its campaign one win short of qualifying for the state tournament.
“Because we were so close last year, I think a lot of the girls, especially the seniors, have a lot of motivation to try and make it to state this year,” Guo said.
Guo hopes to continue playing volleyball in college on either the club or recreation level, but will focus on academics first. Mathematics and science are her go-to subjects.
“I want to major in biomedical engineering. I’m really looking to do research in college and really explore making an impact through developing new technologies or researching diseases,” she said.
The Reporter asked Guo a series of questions to get a behind-the-scenes glimpse into her life:
What’s your favorite movie of all time?
I kind of just like movies in general, I don’t really have a favorite. One good one that I recently watched was “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” I really like that movie and I really like the attention that it brought to Asian American actors and film directors.
What’s a song that you would play over and over again?
This is kind of nerdy, but I like Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto in D major. I play in the orchestra, so I’m a big classical music person (she’s a violinist).
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Messiness, clutter, I’d say. I can’t really focus when there’s a lot of disorganization.
If you’re having a bad day, what do you do to kind of break out of that?
Honestly, I’d say volleyball is a great escape from bad emotions, just because you really have to leave all your emotions off the court. You have to focus so much on your game and your teammates — that’s the most important thing in the moment. I guess that circles back to how I want to convey trust in this team.
What’s a super power that you’d like to have?
I’d like to be able to manipulate time. I don’t want to get into all that crazy like messing up the timeline and stuff, I just want to have more time to do things. I just don’t think there’s enough time in the day to do everything I want to do — and to sleep.
