Her performance under pressure showed early in the game when the Skippers, the last team to beat Wayzata, jumped out to a 10-7 lead. She and fellow veterans Olivia Swenson, Stella Swenson and Sophia Johnson brought the Trojans' group of varsity newcomers together and outscored Minnetonka 18-8 over the next half hour on the way to a first-set victory. 

And that's just what Wayzata coach Scott Jackson was looking for in a season-opener for a team carrying the burden of defending an unbeaten (34-0) 2021 season that ended with a second Class 4A state championship in three seasons. And the Trojans didn't even get a chance to repeat their 2019 title when the 2020 season was abruptly canceled during the COVID-19 pandemic with just one game left in an already shortened regular season. Wayzata, in its first season with Jesewitz and the Swensons in the lineup, went 13-0 before the season was called off.

"Ha," Jackson said, when asked about the 55-game streak. "It's one in a row. Let's let these guys have their own streak."

Jesewitz agrees with that sentiment, but not because of the pressure of having that target on the team. "That pressure (of continuing the streak) is always there, but I think we really enjoy  that pressure," she said.

It helps when you have a lineup loaded with talent, and despite losing nearly an entire team of college prospects to graduation, the Trojans still have a dominant and skilled lineup. Three Trojans, the Swensons and Johnson, a senior libero, played on the Minnesota Select 17U team that placed second at the USA Volleyball girls' junior national championships in Indianapolis earlier this summer. Add Jesewitz and newcomers such as 6-2 sophomores Katie Kelzenberg and Reilly Kurth and seniors Ava Hendel and Kaitlyn Vogt, the Trojans still boast a state tournament caliber lineup.

Minnetonka's Kate Simington, a 6-4 senior middle blocker, played on that junior national team too and could only extend her congratulations to her talented summertime teammates. The game against Wayzata "is honestly one of the games I most look forward to," she said. "I love to play at the highest level of competition."

The Skippers, like Wayzata, have a mostly rebuilt varsity lineup from a year ago and Minnetonka coach Karl Katzenberger said the growing pains showed.

"It's early yet," Katzenberger said. "We're still trying out lineups and different combinations. ... We're still searching for where all the pieces will fit."

Wayzata, too, is in an experimental stage but showed it is at a more advanced stage in that process. After losing so much talent and so many dominant personalities to graduation, the Trojans are building a new identity and developing a teamwide trust and Jackson gave his young group a passing grade.

"We have really good skill ability," Jackson said. "I'm really looking foward to these guys creating their own identity."

And that identity starts with a new winning streak. One in a row.