Lady Paladins Begin Season on Aug. 6, Look to Build on 30-Win Season
As the varsity volleyball team prepares for its upcoming season, many athletes had a pretty busy summer filled with volleyball action on a national stage.
A group of Lady Paladins competed in “two sets of nationals” with their club teams over their summers, FCS Director of Volleyball and Varsity Volleyball Head Coach Carissa Calderone reported.
“Please help us celebrate each athlete and thank God for a summer filled with growth, unforgettable memories, and accomplishments that have our entire Fellowship family excited for the season ahead,” Calderone said. “It’s huge for our program. Most girls in our program compete in club volleyball, which is something we have not had here before this year. It really helps them gain so much more experience.”
Calderone enters her fourth season at the helm of the FCS program. The Lady Paladins are 47-55 overall and 12-16 in Region matches during those three years, including 30-13 (5-4) team in 2025.
“We are very excited for the season,” she said. “We hope Paladin Nation can attend our first home match on Tuesday, Aug. 11 against Riverwood and Centennial.”
In the school’s first fall sports events of the 2026-27 school year, the Fellowship squad opens the season with a pair of non-Region volleyball matches hosted by 5A Chattahoochee High School in Alpharetta on Aug. 6. FCS opens the evening against the Lady Cougars at 5 p.m. and faces 6A Roswell High School at 6 p.m.
Earlier this summer, the Lady Paladin team competed in a non-mandatory tournament at Wofford University and won.
“It was nice that we won a competitive tournament,” Calderone said. “I am excited and thrilled at where we are at. It’s amazing how hard the girls have worked outside of [FCS] volleyball. This is the first team of girls who have been with our program the whole time I have been here”
Last year’s team had eight seniors, and this year’s squad has four: Peyton Cleek, Ella Hasner, Anne Gregory Herren and Jordan Schwandt.
“Peyton and Jordan have been here since my first day,” Calderone said. “Ella joined her junior year, and Anne Gregory actually joined the program as manager her sophomore year [because she had to sit out a year due to transfer rules]. Our seniors have a great opportunity to lead. This is reflective to the culture we are trying to build here.”
This year’s Lady Paladin roster will include 14 players, including two swing players who will play both JV and varsity matches, two more than last season.
“We enter the season tuned up,” Calderone said. “Most of our players played club in the summer tournaments. They all have club experience. It’s so valuable that they play the year round.”
Players who play club volleyball typically have a nine- or 10-month club season before beginning their high school season.
“They are choosing not to take a break to play with us,” Calderone said. “So, we try to be very competitive but also make it fun for them. We also want to shine the Light of Christ in our matches and with our opponents and their families.”
(Photos submitted by Carissa Calderone)