Jonesboro volleyball in usual position

The more things have changed, the more they’ve stayed the same for the Jonesboro volleyball team.

The Lady Hurricane graduated a handful of seniors from last season’s Class 5A state championship team — including two-time Arkansas Democrat-Gazette All-Arkansas Preps Volleyball Player of the Year Clara Parker — but they haven’t missed a beat.

In fact, they haven’t missed much of anything lately.

Jonesboro won its 52nd consecutive match Tuesday when it knocked off 5A-East rival Nettleton 3-1 on the road. The streak is the second longest ever in state volleyball history behind the 63-match run that Crowley’s Ridge put together from 199798. The tally also supplants the Lady Hurricane’s own 51-match winning streak from 2001-02.

“Winning breeds winning,” said Jonesboro Coach Craig Cummings, who led the Lady Hurricane to a 35-0 mark last season and the team’s 14th state title. “This is almost a complete new crew out on the court for us. We’ve got just one starter back while a couple of others had played different roles. But they’ve filled in remarkably.

“On paper, they’re not supposed to be where they are, but that’s what I give credit to them for. They believe in one another, and they have each other’s back. The team culture over the past four years has been tremendous.”

Jonesboro (9-0, 7-0) has gone 131-16 since 2016 and picked up three state titles. The one year the Lady Hurricane didn’t win, they lost in the 2017 championship match.

This season has been a pleasant surprise for Cummings. Despite senior captain Taylor Abernathy being the lone regular returning from 2019, Jonesboro has gone a full five sets just once this year. That match came against North Little Rock, where the Lady Hurricane won the first two sets before pulling out the victory in the fifth.

Two other senior captains, Rosalind Lutes and Maggie Orr, have flourished in their hitter and libero roles, respectively, Cummings said. Seniors Teagan Cox, Abby Johnson and Shelby Varner have added leadership, while junior Saraya Hewitt and sophomores Maddie Johnson and Anna Parker have been able to step up when needed.

Junior Mollie McCoy, who missed nearly three months with a broken fibula, has returned to bolster the lineup.

“Everybody’s equal,” Cummings said. “No one person is more important than the other. It doesn’t matter if you’re a sophomore, junior or senior. Everybody is a ’Cane.”

The Lady Hurricane aim for their 53rd in a row today against West Memphis.