By Andy Walter

DOVER — Dover High’s players thought they had done the hard part.

The Senators had played well enough during the regular season to earn a home match in the first round of last fall’s DIAA volleyball state tournament.

The trouble was, No. 9 Dover ended up facing a Wilmington Charter squad that was a lot better than its No. 24 seeding. The Force proved just that in a 3-0 upset of the Senators.

“It was humbling,” said senior setter Olivia Anyanwu. “We definitely realized it was a tougher match. We could have done better in the match but, at the end of the day, they were a good team.”

The fact that Charter also upset No. 8 Caesar Rodney in its next match didn’t change the fact that Dover was hoping to get a little more out of last season. The program has never won a state tournament match.

But the good news for the Senators is that many of their top players are back from a team that went 9-4 in last fall’s shortened season.

Dover will be trying to earn the program’s fourth straight state tourney appearance when it opens the season on Sept. 13 by hosting Queen Anne’s, Md.

Senior Kendra Williams agrees that the Senators’ state tournament loss last December definitely got their attention.

“We kind of went into it thinking, ‘Oh, we’re good, we’ve got this,’” she said. “But we have to think that we have to keep working hard and pushing for it.”

This year’s Senator roster includes four players who earned all-Henlopen North honors last year — that’s more returning selections than any other team in the division.

Anyanwu and Kim Czepukaitis were first-team selections, Olivia Czepukaitis was a second-team honoree and Bella Newton made honorable mention. With five seniors on the squad, there’s a strong nucleus of players who know each other pretty well.

That senior class, which also includes Emma Hodgson, owns a career record of 31-14, one of the most successful stretches the program has ever had.

“The fact that a few of us have been in the program for so long, it just makes it really easy for us to connect on the court,” said Olivia Czepukaitis. “We have such a strong friendship off the court.

“Our season last year is kind of pushing us to be better and to exceed expectations that people might have for us. ... Every win, every point, every set is pushing us farther to reach that end goal of getting into states and kind of getting our name out there and proving to the world what we can do.”

Second-year coach Eric Riehl said last year’s condensed season took a physical toll on the Senators, just like it did on most teams in the state. In one late-season stretch, Dover played five matches in nine days.

Still the optimism that he felt at the end of last season hasn’t diminished any.

“They’re probably one of the strongest teams mentally because, off the court, they’re as strong as they are on the court,” said Riehl. “They all want it and they’re hungry for it.”

The senior Senators would love to finish their careers having won at least one state tournament match.

Right now, though, it’s only August and there’s a lot of work to do first. Last year’s loss to Charter is pretty good motivation, though.

“We are all motivated to win,” said Williams. “We’re all driven. We’re all connected together. We all want the same end goal. We’re excited.

“We know what we’ve been through and we know what we need to do better. We think we can focus on what needs to get done and get it done.”

“It just makes me want it even more this year,” said Anyanwu. “We tried our best last year but I know that we have more. I just know that there’s a bigger fight in us.”