Macey Trussel glanced at her teammate Elise Petit, firmly nodded her head and chuckled.

“She’s on our side, so we’re good,” Trussel said about her 6-foot-1 Redmond High senior volleyball teammate who plays outside hitter and earned 4A KingCo most valuable player honors last season.

Trussel, a 5-10 senior middle blocker, noted that she wouldn’t want to be on the other side of the net when Petit pounds the ball toward opponents. Trussel said it must be scary for defenders to see the blur of a ball rocket their way. It scares her sometimes to watch Petit wind up and blast away.

“It’s fun, though,” said Trussel, whose team will compete in 3A KingCo this season because of enrollment figures and a host of schools opting up to 4A.

Last season, Redmond (2-6 league, 7-12 overall) entered the KingCo tournament ranked seventh and knocked off second-ranked Bothell and top-ranked Newport for its first playoffs wins since 2006. The Mustangs fell two wins short of their first state berth since 2006.

“That (playoff run) was huge, and we’ll continue to build on that,” said third-year coach Richard Abiador, adding that the team’s goals are to win KingCo and advance to state.

While Petit will be a key to Redmond’s success, the coach said, “It takes a team. We need everyone. We’ve got a great mix of skill, height and athleticism. They’re excited, and they’ve put in hard work in practice.”

Switching from 4A to 3A, Abiador’s squad is not yet familiar with the 3A landscape and aims to take things game by game, develop chemistry and peak at the end of the regular season.

Petit said she’s looking forward to being a leader and helping to mold a team that consists of seven seniors, four juniors and one sophomore.

In 2015, Petit set the school kill record with 410 in 19 matches, including establishing a school single-match record of 35 in a four-set playoff loss against Skyline. She added 287 digs and was ranked No. 1 in the Puget Sound region in kills and No. 5 in digs, according to the Seattle Times.

“All those records are great, but a lot of people forget that there’s always a pass and a set that goes up to get a good kill, and so it’s just about bringing the team together,” Petit said. “We were so close last year. We just needed the one win to get into the state play-in game. That was really frustrating to lose that match (to Skyline), but I think it kind of fuels the fire this year.”

Added Trussel: “When it just clicks and everyone’s working in a system and everyone’s working as a team, rather than individuals, it’s just one of those cool ‘a-ha’ moments. It’s something to be proud of, honestly, because it’s hard to do. It’s a great feeling when it happens.”

Other top returners include Ally Ford, a 5-10 senior setter who was an all-league second-teamer last year; Katie Pangborn, a 5-9 junior right-side opposite who was an all-league honorable mention in 2015; and Katie O’Bryon, a 5-7 senior libero who played outside hitter last year. Abiador is thrilled to have sophomore Maya Holmen, a 6-0 middle blocker, move up from the C team last season to varsity this year.

O’Bryon feels this is the best team Redmond has fielded during her high-school years.

“We have 12 solid players. I think everyone’s pretty determined to have a successful season,” she said.

On her new position, O’Bryon added: “I’m really excited. Passing’s just fun. It’s my favorite part of volleyball, so now I get to do it the whole time.”

Trussel said that she’ll add tons of energy and yelling to keep Redmond’s side of the net pumped up.

“Volleyball is a very mental game and so you have to keep the spirits up and you have to keep going every point and can’t dwell in the past,” she said.

Redmond opens its season with a home game at 7 p.m. tonight against Lake Washington.