“First place also going on to semifinals; give a big, big round of applause for Viva Voce!” the announcer’s voice boomed. In their International Championship of High School A Cappella (ICHSA) competition debut, Ladue’s all-female a cappella group had come out on top. That, however, was one year ago. If Viva Voce wanted to place again, they would have to innovate.

“Last year, our set was your basic a cappella set,” senior, member and business manager of Viva Voce Rose Coughlin said. “A fast paced song, your slow ballad in the middle, and then you have an upbeat, powerful closer song.”

Since the 2018 competitive season, the activities’ governing body, Varsity Vocals, made some changes to how the nation’s teams are divided up, moving Viva Voce from the Midwest to Great Lakes region. Despite this shake-up and the pressure to avoid a sophomore slump, Viva Voce were still very excited about to return to the competitive stage.

“We went for more of a pop route last year,” Seema Patil, a senior and the group’s bass singer said. “This year, we picked more alternative things like You Go Down Smooth by Lake Street Dive, and Zombie by the Cranberries, which is this older song that we put like a twist on. We have these whispers in the middle and the choreography is a bit more intricate than last year.”

After countless weekly practice sessions, dance rehearsals, and a year full of community performances, the big day had finally come. Viva Voce performed second out of nine groups and gave an exhilarating performance. When the announcer stood in the same place where he was one year ago, he laid to rest all doubts about their debut being a fluke: they had won second place and would be going back to semifinals.

“It was so exciting to see all of our hard work finally paying off,” Patil said. “We’re all so excited for semifinals, and can’t wait to continue rehearsing and make our set even better.”