MADISON, Ala. (WHNT) – Last season ended in heartbreak for the Bob Jones volleyball team, with the team ending as Class 7A state runners-up.

But, that has definitely fueled them as three weeks into this season the Lady Patriots are one of the top teams not only in the state of Alabama but in the entire country.

They’re 21-0 to start the season and are nationally ranked at No. 23 in the USA Today HSS/AVCA rankings. And they’re doing so in dominant fashion, sweeping all seven opponents last week including nationally ranked Collierville.

Bob Jones brings back a lot of experience and five starters from last year, so they had high expectations coming into this season and are hungry for a different outcome.

“It was hard, we had just worked so hard and we had what it took but we just fell short, but I feel like it pushed us so much more this season because now we kind of know what that feels like and we don’t want it to happen again,” Bob Jones senior libero Meg Jarrett said.

“We definitely wanted to build off on that and come into this year and do even bigger and better so they’ve really started out good, they have really good team chemistry and we wanted to be in this situation,” Bob Jones head volleyball coach Jenny Jarrett added.

The Lady Patriots are clicking right now both offensively and defensively, but with a month still left in the regular season, they are making sure not to get too high or too low and stay focused on the ultimate goal.

“I just keep trying to remind them that whether we win or lose, as long as we’re getting better every game, that our focus is what happens at the end and we want to bring home that blue trophy, so not to really get too hyper-focused on like the little steps along the way,” Coach Jarrett said.

“We have a quote of the week and this week’s is look at the stair and not the whole staircase. This whole season we’ve been saying like focus on the next game, just winning this game, and that’s kind of pushed us to where we are,” Meg Jarrett added.

Bob Jones will be at home on Tuesday against Florence and Arab.