Murray, NEB – The Conestoga volleyball team has improved greatly since last year. The Cougars are about halfway through their season, with a record of 5-12. They have developed wins against Louisville, Lyons- Decatur Northeast, Weeping Water, Arlington and Boys town. The cougars have a 0.33% win percentage. Compared this to last season when the Cougars had a record of 6-21 with only a 0.22% winning percentage.

This year’s varsity team consists of 11 returning players from last year and four new additions to the roster. Last year’s team consisted of 21 girls, while this year’s team consists of 24. The volleyball team continues to grow every year. “The girls’ growth started this summer during open gyms and the bonding trip they took to Colorado,” said Kyleigh Lewis, who coaches Conestoga’s volleyball team.

Specifically, the team has been recording a higher serve percentage this year. This has improved greatly since the beginning of the season as well. The varsity team is recording offense from multiple players during stressful situations.

This year marks the fourth year that Coach Lewis has been the head coach of the Cougars. Throughout her four years of coaching, each year requires a different strategy. Lewis says “ All four years as a varsity coach at Conestoga, our teams have had different player strengths. Our offensive and defensive game has changed.” This year many of the girls on the team participated in club volleyball and extra volleyball in the off season. “We are continuing to grow our fundamentals, but are now on game time strategy,” said Lewis.

The cougars have learned to interact with each other well and really embrace a “team” effort. Lewis says, “You can see our girls hanging out during school, working together during team study groups, and supporting other programs at school. In my last nine years of coaching, most of my efforts have been purely on coaching and strategy instead of creating a strong team environment.” The girls have created a strong bond at all levels of the game, whether it be the varsity girls encouraging and helping out the JV and reserve, or the JV and reserve helping with the varsity girls stats and cheering them on throughout the games. It has been enjoyable to watch their success and how they celebrate each other’s success without prompting.