By Brant Daughtry
Great Bend Post Sports
The Ellinwood Lady Eagles made history last year in volleyball, losing just three sets all year en route to an undefeated state championship. This year though, Ellinwood is on an even better pace, having lost just one set all season, to multi-time defending champion Little River who they have since swept in a rematch, and hold a 23-0 record with two weeks left in the season.
Head coach Greg Maxwell says the success is owed to the returning players. Even losing two incredibly important seniors last season, the returning roster has all improved and raised the standard even higher.
"I didn't know how we'd replace, you know, two all-state players that are now playing Division 2 volleyball. But we had so many returners that, just the math of it, if all of our returners got better, and they all have significantly improved both physically and mentally, we've taken a big step forward, which is really exciting because we all wanted that, but we didn't know... We have some gauges we use and we are, statistically and just performance-wise, ahead of where we were last year."
That's a scary thought for opposing teams, to face an even more athletically gifted Ellinwood than last season, but Maxwell says it's the mental side of the game that's led to the biggest jump.
"The patience these girls have is they can be down early in a match, down mid-way in a match, and they just keep doing their thing, and they know they're gonna wear teams down because they're so consistent. Our attack is extremely consistent, and we're very diverse. They just know that team's aren't going to go on long scoring runs on us so they don't ever panic. Which is a maturity thing that is really, really fun to watch.
Ellinwood hosts Larned Thursday, October 1st.