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Grace Christian Academy’s Varsity Volleyball team has had a phenomenal season so far. After taking the state runners-up title last year, the Lady Cougars were left fairly unaffected by a loss of senior players, only losing one player as the season began, with another player pick-up filling that spot.

“Essentially, we are the exact same team that we were from last year,” said Coach Kelsey Raley. She attributed some of the team’s success to this continuity, with the Lady Cougars touting 15 wins to only 5 losses.

“That’s an undeniable asset, when you don’t really lose a big component to the team from the previous season,” she said, “and with as well as we did do overall last season, and then coming back with the same team, that’s obviously been a big strong point.”

Not only has the team stability served them well, but the additional experience gained by freshman players has also.

“So this year, having them return as sophomores, they played all last season, they’ve done off-season volleyball… that’s been a huge asset as well.”

The Lady Cougars most recently participated in the August Prep Volleyball tournament, defeating Alleluia Community, the Augusta Eagles, and The Habersham School, only falling to Augusta Prep Day School. Some stand-out performances from the tournament include Kate Poitevint and Sybil Lee, with Poitevint making 58 kills, with 25 digs, while Lee made 84 assists and 28 digs. Keagan Belcher also made 24 digs during the tournament.

Defense has been a big focus for Raley. “All good things come from good defense,” she said. That said, she still wants the team hitters to keep an offensive mindset, “no matter what is going on with our defense.”

“I think this year, this team has done very well playing at and playing above the expectation,” Raley said, “which, it is hard for a team that basically comes back the same exact team… obviously, the expectation is high. I do think they’ve done a good job handling that expectation, and still exceeding it, and going on the expectation.”

The Lady Cougars went on to face off against Tift County Tuesday afternoon, and will go up against the  Valwood Valiants this Thursday.