FOXBURG — Music blares. The thump of a flat hand smacking a volleyball is the only thing that cuts through the melodies.

Players laugh. But they also work.

Hard.

It's a typical A-C Valley volleyball practice and the Falcons, a team of six that moves on the court as one, are on a mission.

“We're excited,” says senior Morgan Cratty. “We definitely see states in our future this year.”

A-C Valley has gotten close to the PIAA Class A tournament before — four times in the last nine years to be exact — only to stumble in the District 9 championship match.

The Falcons, though, served notice to the rest of the district that this may very well be their year to break through.

A-C Valley swept Clarion last week — its first victory over the perennial District 9 power in more than a decade.

“I can't even explain that feeling,” said senior Alyssa Babcock. “It's crazy.”

A-C Valley is undefeated so far this season — the Falcons have had stellar seasons before — but this one seems different to the six starters, five of whom are seniors.

They can't really explain it, but they can certainly feel it.

The best way to sum it up, said senior Kiersten Rothen, is with one word.

Urgency.

“A lot of us know this is the last time we're going to play as a team and, for a lot of us, the last time we're going to play volleyball on a team ever again,” Rothen said.

“It's our last year,” senior Katie Stumpner added. “So it's like, 'Let's make the most of it.'”

The Falcons certainly have early this season.

The seeds of the success — and the win over Clarion — may have been sown as far back as the seventh grade when the five current seniors were united as volleyball teammates.

It flowered this offseason in Junior Olympic volleyball and in tournaments, such as the one at Butler County Community College when the Falcons squared off against much bigger schools such as Butler, Knoch and Armstrong.

And held their own.

“Butler graduated I think 787 kids last year,” said A-C Valley volleyball coach Doug Knox. “We graduated 54.

“They played JO all winter,” Knox added. “It's just my kids. You play JOs and you're usually playing teams with six or seven kids from six or seven different schools and it's like an all-star team against my little team.”

One player who did not participate this summer was senior Halee Wetzel.

She spent some of it fighting for her life.

Wetzel was riding a trail bike when she hit her head on a low overhang on a neighbor's shed. The force drove her head back and fractured the cartilage around her thyroid.

Wetzel needed emergency surgery to repair the damage and spent 10 days in the intensive care unit at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh.

“It happened on Mother's Day — my poor mother,” Wetzel said. “When I hit my head, my neck shoved up. It should have closed my airway, but it didn't. I'm the luckiest person alive, I feel like.”

That made her appreciate volleyball that much more.

She was only cleared to play a week before official practices began.

“It makes it so special, just thinking that I might not have been able to play,” Wetzel said. “It's unreal.”

She has to wear a protective band around her neck. It stretches over two scars — one from the surgery and one from the tracheostomy that kept her alive.

Wetzel had to jury-rig the band, combining a paintball neck protector and an Under Armour chinstrap for extra padding.

It's definitely a conversation piece.

“We kind of joke around about it,” Stumpner said. “We don't really have a name for it. It kind of looks like a collar.”

Wetzel said she was overwhelmed by the support she received from her teammates.

Sophomore Josey Terwilliger is also grateful for their support.

With five seniors on the court around her, Terwilliger said it was nerve-wracking being the “youngster.”

“I think it drives me because I feel like I have to do better for them,” Terwilliger said.

She felt that pressure against Clarion.

“I was, literally, 'I need to do this for you guys,'” Terwilliger said. “I get really nervous and I need to let that go a little bit because when I'm nervous, I stink. But if I shank a ball or something, they're never mad at me. Ever.”

All six agree that is the real key behind their success this year and in years past.

Teamwork.

Togetherness.

Friendship.

“We're best friends,” Wetzel said. “I feel like we're more like a family than a team.”