Photo by Sam Thiel The 2021 Yellow Medicine East volleyball team includes front row (L to R): Gracie Kleven, Riley Streich, Aria Peters, Kayla Nordaune, Kiara Sakry and Nevaeh Chaparro. Back row (L to R): Yansi Flores, Hannah Stark, Ruby Bones, Shelby Mortenson, Lexi Smith and Lily Jaenisch.

GRANITE FALLS — Last season, the Yellow Medicine East volleyball team went through some ups and downs, going 4-10 overall in the pandemic-shortened schedule. This season, the Sting will have plenty of experience back and look to bounce back strong under coach Alyssa Johnson.

YME has 10 players returning from a season ago, including four seniors. They will be led by Shelby Mortenson, Yansi Flores, Lexi Smith, Lily Jaenisch, Ruby Bones, Kiara Sakry, Hannah Stark and Aria Peters, while Kayla Nordaune, Gracie Kleven, Nevaeh Chaparro and Riley Streich will look to make an impact as well.

Johnson said they have high expectations as a group going into the season and added she’s been impressed with what she’s seen so far over the summer.

“Our expectations are high. I feel like we have a refreshing energy in our gym, some of it might be from dealing with the season we had last year, but the girls are a lot more focused,” Johnson said. “I see a lot more competitiveness from them already over the summer and they have high expectations for themselves. We want to win games and we want our season to look better than it did last year, that’s what our goal is every year.”

During the first couple of weeks of practice, Johnson said their main focus has been on their serving and serve-receive and improving their overall defensive presence.

“We are working diligently on serving and serve-receive,” Johnson said. “They are very basic volleyball skills but super important volleyball skills; we want to up our defensive level for sure and we’ll keep finding ways to score offensively.”

Johnson added an area of strength for them will be their height up front, which they hope to take advantage of both on offense and defense.

“I think definitely our height is going to serve us well,” Johnson said. “We have some tall players up front to block, so we’re definitely going to utilize them offensively but they’re also going to be big for us on the defensive end as well.”

YME will start the season on Thursday at home against Wabasso at 7:15 p.m. Going into the season, Johnson said she’s looking forward to watching her players improve each day and develop both on and off the floor.

“I think it’s the same for me every year. One of my favorite parts of coaching is watching them progress from Day 1 throughout the season and just seeing how much they improve and develop as not only players but as people too,” Johnson said. “We spend a lot of time together and work really hard so it’s always fun to see them develop over the course of a season.”