The scene may be the same for Spartan Coach Holly Rohrbacher, but oh, how the view has changed.

Rohrbacher is back at the helm as the head coach of the Bainbridge High girls varsity volleyball team. And as her second year of guiding the squad gets underway, Rohrbacher’s expanded perspective has powered a ripened realization of how to find success in the uber-competitive Metro League.

During last year’s rookie season for the coach, she said there was much, much to learn. She wasn’t well acquainted with her players, the team, the league, or any possible Metro minefields.

That’s changed.

“I think I know my kids. Last year, not only did I not know the other teams, I didn’t even know my own kids,” she said of her Spartan players.

Now, the team is working at a higher level. Rohrbacher can coach using a strategy based on her players, rather than trying to fit her players into a preconceived plan.

“If you don’t know the personnel you can’t make a plan — you have to just make a plan and hope it goes well,” she recalled.

Ditto what the Spartans will see on the court again this year, as Rohrbacher better knows now what to expect from the challenges BHS will face from familiar rivals such Seattle Prep, Lakeside and Eastside Catholic.

With the new season comes fresh hope for improving a team that has struggled to hit the .500 mark in recent years.

Much of the optimism comes from the players who have stepped up this year. Memories of past years when the Spartans struggled to fill out a roster have faded. Turnout was impressive this year, with enough players to completely fill the rosters for the varsity, junior varsity and C teams.

“It was amazing,” Rohrbacher said of the turnout.

“It was heavy; we had more kids than we could keep,” she said. “This year we had 41 come out. We had to make a few cuts, which is always hard.”

The Spartans lost six seniors from last year’s team to graduation, but of that group, just two saw significant time on the court.

This year’s varsity squad has just two seniors, with the rest coming from the junior class.

“It’s a mixture of people that were here and sweating with us all summer and a couple of new faces,” Rohrbacher said.

“We’ve got the core of the team back, which is really exciting,” she added.

Though there have been just a few gaps to fill from last year, nothing’s been set in stone for the Spartans as far as the lineup goes.

“I want them to battle every day; they are never totally set, to be honest,” the coach said.

“I don’t think anyone feels for sure that they have the position,” Rohrbacher explained. “There are people who have risen to the top in their position, but do they know for certain they can’t be beaten out? No.

“I try to create a competitive atmosphere where they are always thinking that they better be getting better, because somebody else probably is. We’ve talked a lot about that in practice. If you’re not getting better, we’re not getting better.”

It’s also a mindset needed to compete in the Metro League, where the team will square off against highly skilled — and taller — athletes.

“We’re only going to be as good as our weakest player. We know when we play against the other six, we know they are going to be really good,” Rohrbacher said.

This season’s roster has Maggie Sweeney, Hailey Capps, Megan Spray and Taylor Jumpa in the outside hitter positions; Grace Cisneros, Gabrielle Dallman and Sydney Maria in middle blocker; Stella Streufert and Olivia Marshall at libero; Anna Jones in right side hitter/middle; and Erica Sprott and Emily Tibbens at setter.

Mary Burgess will play for the Spartans as starting right side/opposite.

The coach said she’s been encouraged by what she’s seen so far.

Sprott, at setter, is one example.

“I expect her to have a really strong year,” the coach said.

Sweeney is also another big returner for the Spartans. She started in every match last year for Bainbridge.

“She had a phenomenal off-season,” Rohrbacher said, and is hitting harder and with more ball control.

Add to this exciting mix Cisneros, who will likely be the shortest player in the middle in Metro League varsity volleyball.

“She came on with us at the end of last year and played some key time in the middle. We’re expecting her to have a good year as a starter now in the middle,” the coach said.

“She has a really strong slide approach that makes her unique. She’s small, really small, so people I think can underestimate how springy and athletic she is.

“I think it will catch people off-guard,” Rohrbacher said.

Jumpa, who also saw varsity playing time last year, is expected to play a key role in the outside hitter position, along with Spray.

Spray, the coach noted, is “another athletic kid who’s getting better by every ball touch.”

The groundwork for the season was laid by added strength and conditioning training, led by a professional crossfit coach hired by the Spartans who worked with the players twice a week. There’s also been timed mile runs for the Spartans as they prepped for this year’s campaign.

“We were able to really hit the ground running. We didn’t spend a lot of time catching up,” the coach said.

Defense, and serving the ball, will be crucial for the Spartans this year.

Rohrbacher said the goal for many of the Spartans in serving is to hit the 90 percent mark. That’s not many missed opportunities, to be sure.

“That’s nine out of 10,” she said.

But it’s also a standard that the Spartans can set, and not one reliant on the foe they’re facing.

“It’s like the free throws of volleyball,” Rohrbacher said, “where you can hold the ball in your hand and take a second and a deep breath.”

Some of the season’s toughest tests will come in late September/early October. There’s Eastside Catholic at home on Sept. 20, and the Spartans welcome Lakeside and Seattle Prep on Sept. 29 and Oct. 4, respectively.

Also on the horizon: Bishop Blanchet (Sept. 22, away) and Holy Names (Sept. 27, away).

“I really honestly think that we have the potential to win every game at the onset,” Rohrbacher said.

That’s not a guarantee of a win in every game, she noted, but an assessment of why the team lost some close battles last year and that this year, with greater confidence and finishing ability, those potential victories won’t slip from the Spartans’ grasp.

“Our team has to believe we can win those close matches,” she said.