Acing the season Lafayette looking to reload in new-look 6-AAA
It has been a steady climb to the top for the Lafayette Lady Ramblers volleyball program.
Although Lafayette has seen its share of triumph over the last 25plus years, the past four seasons in particular have been one of the most sustained runs of success the program has ever enjoyed.
Lafayette is 154-49 over the last four seasons and 130-27 in the last three, which have seen the Lady Ramblers set new single-season marks for victories each time (40 in 2017, 42 in 2018 and a record 48 last fall).
As those win totals have increased, so has the team’s post-season success. They finished fourth, third and second in the Area 6-AAAA tournament before finally winning the title last year, while two first-round state playoff exits led to a Sweet 16 appearance in 2018 before last year’s memorable Final Four run.
Now, all that remains to be seen is whether or not Lafayette can maintain that level of success.
“We know what it takes now, we just have to keep working and keep busting our tails,” head coach Chris Logan explained. “You can’t sit back and relax. You have to keep pushing in practice and the girls worked hard this summer.
“Even with all the COVID stuff, we really haven’t missed out on a ton as far as going to workouts. It looked a little different with smaller groups, but as far as other stuff goes, we only missed one week of weightlifting and we didn’t get to have tryouts (when we normally do). Other than that, we’re pretty much on track.”
The Lady Ramblers lost just two players from last year’s squad, and while they were two extremely valuable players who both went on to sign college scholarships, Lafayette will return the bulk of last year’s roster, which includes plenty of firepower.
Logan will have the luxury of a quartet of returning seniors, who all have seen plenty of varsity matches in the past three seasons.
Two of those seniors, middle hitter Imani Cook (209 kills, 61 blocks) and libero Kloe Ludy (317 digs, 59 assists, 52 aces), were second team Allregion picks in 2019. The class has two more standouts in middle blocker Sarah Ray (144 kills, 95 aces, 80 digs, 52 blocks) and outside hitter/utility player Gracie Hess (120 kills), though Hess recently had off-season surgery and will likely not be available in the early part of the season.
“These girls have put the time in and now it’s their time to shine and show out,” Logan said of his seniors. “Jumping into a leadership role has
LAFAYETTE,