It is that time of year again and the Lewis Cass Volleyball team is preparing for yet another season! Last year, the Lady Kings finished the season with a record of 11-16 and finished 5th in the Three Rivers Conference. This year’s team is without the five senior leaders that last year’s team had, which leaves only four returning Varsity players. This season, the Lady Kings are looking to improve on last year and overcome any obstacles ahead of them.
One of these obstacles is a lack of players. The numbers this season are quite low, causing some players to have to play on both the junior varsity and varsity teams. Even though most would look at this from a negative perspective, six-year coach, Katie Cowell looks at it in a different way. “While that does pose some challenges, ultimately I believe it can be a positive thing for us. If we set goals and want to achieve them… There is no one else to get it done than us. I won’t have a deep bench to pull from so girls will have to dig down within and find ways to compete and be gritty throughout the season.” Coach Cowell sees this as an opportunity for the girls to work harder and push themselves. She also shed some light on goals that she wants to accomplish this year.
When asked what these goals were, Cowell stated, “I want this team to grow and mature together. We lost a lot of varsity strength last year, and I will be excited to watch some new players step up and take some ownership in being a leader and a go-to player for us this fall.” Cowell’s team captains this year include three returning varsity players; senior setter, Maryn Zeck, outside hitter, Ava Hubner, and libero, Emma Hildebrand. The team will look to these three girls as their leaders this season. With Emma leading the back row, Maryn setting up the front row, and Ava crushing the competitors with her hits, the team could not have hoped for better leaders. Senior Maryn Zeck states, “For my last season of volleyball, I am looking forward to getting to know the incoming freshman as well as playing against new schools that are in the new TRC Conference we joined last year.”
Just like Zeck said, the leaders are looking forward to bonding with the team and competing against some strong competitors. “I think our biggest competitor will be our last match of the season when we face the 2023 state champions, The Southwood Knights. They are an excellent team loaded with a ton of talent. I think a key factor in competing with Southwood is to be tough defensively against their big hitters and to minimize unforced errors. We will work on those things all season as we prepare to face them during the last match of our regular season and potentially in our sectional pool play.” Coach Cowell said. Last season against Southwood, the Kings went down in three sets. They have a chance to seek redemption and make a big name for themselves by beating the reigning State champs this season. Luckily, they have an experienced coach to help them overcome not only the Knights, but the other teams in the Three Rivers Conference as well.
As stated earlier, Coach Katie Cowell has coached volleyball at Lewis Cass for six years, and before that, coached club volleyball for some time after playing volleyball herself at Bethel University. Coach has recently announced that this will be her last year coaching as she is expecting her first child. When asked what her favorite part of coaching Lewis Cass Volleyball has been, she said, “My favorite part of coaching volleyball at Lewis Cass has been making relationships with the girls and watching them grow throughout their four years. I’ve coached long enough to now have seen girls go from freshman to seniors and it’s really cool to see how they mature and change throughout their time in high school. It’s been fun to do that while also sharing my love for the game of volleyball!”
With Coach’s departure being at the end of the season, it gives the girls yet another reason to work hard to make this season successful. This season will be tough, being opposed by many challenges, but it is nothing our girls cannot do! Support the Lady Kings this season as they play for their coach, themselves, and their school!
From the sidelines to the headlines, this is Lauren signing out.
