Saturday Teri Huslig stood in a gym full of people and flying volleyballs.

She quickly deflected the balls off her arms, knees and feet.

Huslig fought fatigue from a basketball game earlier in the day, but stuck it out for nearly two hours in hopes of making it onto a brand new volleyball team.

Huslig was one of 14 hopefuls trying out for the new Lawrence MAVs 12- and- under club volleyball team.

The team auditioned new players Saturday at Southwest Junior High.

Players trying out were initially separated onto two different volleyball courts at the gym. They were then bombarded with balls and forced to react on their feet with digs, serves and passes.

After the day’s intense drilling was over, nine of the 14 participants found themselves on a new team.

Once on the team Mike Broadwell, an assistant MAVs coach, said the nine players would begin practicing immediately for the season, which begins in January.

“I’m most looking forward to watching the girls and seeing their camaraderie,” Broadwell said. “It will be nice to see the girls grow in competition in the sport.”

Lawrence MAVs head coach Karen Schonewise said the Lawrence MAVs league began as the Lawrence Lava 14- and under team last year. After realizing a void existed in the Lawrence club volleyball community, the team decided to join with the Mid-America Volleyball Assn. from Kansas City to expand into the Lawrence MAVs. Broadwell said that by expanding the Kansas City league, the Lawrence league wanted to offer the opportunity for players to start playing at a younger age without having to travel to play in popular leagues outside of the city.

“It’s cool for Lawrence to begin starting clubs,” Broadwell said. “We want to help these girls get exposed to club volleyball. We want them to get to know the sport and get exposure right now.”

Though the club aims to teach young players more about volleyball, the competition to get on the team was not easy Saturday.

The older 14-and-under Lawrence MAVs team is excited to see what their new league mates could do too.

Kiely Mosiman, a player in the 14- and- under team, was on hand with the rest of her team to help out with the tryouts Saturday.

“We’ve been playing together since the third-grade,” Mosiman said. “We hope this new team will continue on the tradition.”

If Saturday was any indication, the new Lawrence MAVs team was ready to do just that. When the tryouts ended and the new team was announced Saturday, the nine new players were in the bathroom excitedly trying on their new MAVs jerseys, getting ready for a new season on a brand new team.