Pope's volleyball team is in a dream situation right now.

It almost seems unfair.

The Lady Greyhounds had an underclassmen-laden team that dominanted most of their matches last season until a more-experienced Northview team humbled them in the Class AAAAA state finals.

For the 2009 season, Pope is returning eight of 12 players from last year's squad that won 47 of its 51 matches - five of whom are starters - and it hasn't forgotten about its loss in the finals. The Lady Greyhounds showed their youth for the first time all season early in the match before falling to the Titans in five grueling games.

"They were disappointed they didn't play their best and that adds to the excitement of this season," Pope coach Bryan Jones said. "They've come together pretty good and, now that we've been there, we can focus on this year's goals."

The Northview loss aside, the Lady Greyhounds had a year to remember. They won the Cobb County championship and went undefeated in a highly competitive Area 1AAAAA field that produced two other state semifinal teams and beat Lassiter in four games to win the area title.

Three then-sophomores - outside hitter Mary Hoey, middle hitter Sarah Morris and libero Danielle Thompson - played significant roles in Pope's success last year. The threesome is back for more, only halfway through their high school careers.

"We're blessed that we have eight of 12 team players back," Pope coach Bryan Jones said. "A lot of our girls had experience playing club ball. (Danielle), Sarah and Mary's (club) team finished ranked third in the nation and, as a whole, they're more complete volleyball players this year."

Hoey, the 2008 Marietta Daily Journal/Cobb County Player of the Year, led all of Class AAAAA with 553 kills and a school-record .392 attack percentage. She was one of 25 finalists as PrepVolleyball.com's national sophomore of the year.

Morris finished with 96 blocks, the second-most in school history, while adding 279 kills. Thompson set a school record with 516 digs - an average of 4.4 per game - and led the team with a .943 service percentage.

Sophomore Mary Hannah Arrington was another solid addition at outside hitter. She finished her freshman campaign with 313 kills and 312 digs, making it tough for the opposition to key in on Hoey.

Junior defensive specialist Meredith Hopper, sophomore rightside hitter Katie Bange and senior setter Hannah Farmer round out Pope's starting lineup.

According to Jones, there are two areas where Pope could improve this season: serving and blocking. He noted that the Lady Greyhounds didn't apply enough pressure on serve, which sometimes prevented them from running their offense.

"With serving, we want to put the other team out of rotation and send us back easier balls," Morris said. "We also have two new blockers (junior Lauren Wadella and sophomore Leslye Barnette) and we're concentrating on closing tight and pressing over the net."