A decade.

That’s how long its been since the Moravia volleyball team has won a Section IV, Division III title. The Blue Devils have weathered some losing seasons, a few subpar ones and even a winning year or two since 1998, but it never amounted to a division title, until now.

Coming off a .500 2007 season, Moravia has amassed a 6-2 record in Division III and earned the elusive title last week. Despite early season struggles with team chemistry, the Blue Devils pooled together and are now working towards a new goal — getting their team’s success on the school’s gymnasium wall in the form of a sectional title banner.

With the IAC tournament behind them, the Blue Devils are focused on the Section IV, Class C round robin tournament with Odessa-Montour, Southern Cayuga and Thomas Edison on Thursday. It’s an ending of sorts, of something that didn’t look possible in the beginning of the year.

“At the beginning of the year, I was very worried about this team,” Moravia coach Kari Huber said. “Not about our skill, but the team dynamic. We hit a certain point and the returning five players spoke to me about a few things — they didn’t necessarily get the answers they wanted, but they were great at expressing their feelings. They got a new perspective and returned with a new focus. This second half of the season, I have really enjoyed so much. I don’t care if we win, as long as we’re having fun, that’s all that matters.”

That new focus began with the returning handful of players — Brandi O’Hara, Deanna Drake, Gabe Chiddy, Jen Cornwell and McKenna Plumadore — resulting in a new team attitude. The second half surge was also helped by newcomer Claire Hunsinger, who was entirely new to the sport coming into the season.

“She’d never played a lick of volleyball before,” Huber said of the senior standout. “She was eager to learn, she stayed after school and had other girls help her learn over the summer.”

Needing a change from years of running cross country, Hunsinger has made most Blue Devils fans forget about her rookie status on the court. With seven blocks in the team’s win over Groton on Sept. 23 and 32 blocks on the season, the lanky senior set school records in both categories and has easily led the defense. It didn’t take Huber long to insert Hunsinger into a starting role.

“I put her in there after the first practice,” Huber said. “She tries so hard and I saw that she was really getting things. She asks questions and pushes people to really try harder around her. I asked her where she had been the last three years.”

While Hunsinger has led the defensive effort, Cornwell and Chiddy have held their own on the offensive front. As the division MVP , Cornwell has racked up 69 kills, while Chiddy isn’t far behind with 59. Setter O’Hara has also been a big piece of the growing puzzle.

“This year, with a lot of girls coming up from the JV team, I kept 14 girls,” Huber said. “That’s a huge number for volleyball and it was difficult for some of the girls to get a lot of playing time and I wish I had gotten some of them more time, but with our starters, it’s been really hard.”

Now, with a few of those starters a little banged up heading into Thursday, Huber knows her team has a battle against three tough teams for a sectional title. The Blue Devils haven’t played Candor or Thomas Edison this season, but split a two-game season series with the Chiefs — the second time around, the Blue Devils won by an exhausting score of 27-25, 25-21, 23-25, 29-27.

“We know we’re up against some tough teams,” Huber said. “But as long as we play well, I’ll be happy.”