The Lady Cougars volleyball team spent last Monday through Wednesday at camp in preparation for the 2015 season, and they had some extra help to get their bodies and minds at peak performance.

The camp was led by coach Mike Swan, women’s volleyball coach at Valdosta State and assisted by Lady Cougars coach Erwin Harrell.

According to Harrell, this was the largest volleyball camp the team has ever had.

A 29-year veteran in the collegiate coaching ranks, Mike Swan is entering his third season as the head coach of the Valdosta State volleyball team and has used two short seasons to practically change the mentality of VSU volleyball.

“I was very pleased with our summer camp led by Coach Sawn,” Harrell said. “We had the largest participation we’ve ever had. We actually had to split the middle school camp into two sessions.”

Harrell said the middle school sessions focused a lot on the fundamentals of the sports. The varsity players focused more on schemes.

“We return everyone on the varsity team, so I’m looking forward to another good season,” Harrell said.

Leading the way for the varsity team will be seniors Lindsey Duke, Kelsey Harrell and Perra Harrell.

In coach Swan’s second year, the Indiana native led Valdosta State into uncharted territory with their first trip to the NCAA Division II in the history of the program. In addition, the 2014 team won the first Gulf South Conference Volleyball Championship in school history. The team finished with a stellar 258 record and advanced to the round of 32 in national postseason play.

Swan has coached at nearly every level of collegiate volleyball during his career as he has built successful programs at the NAIA, NCAA Division I, II and III levels. During his 27 years in volleyball, Swan has totaled 520 victories, which ranks among the top 40 among active Division I coaches. Eleven times in his career his teams have won 20 or more matches in a season while he has directed a squad to postseason tournament play on 15 occasions.