NEB volleyball will be looking to bounce back after a 1-win season in 2025, and return plenty of players who got their first taste of varsity volleyball last year.

And a lot of experience came learning the importance of serve receive.

"That's what we failed at last year, so we're working on that now," said senior Ella Cooley. 

Once they got more consistent at serve receive they became a different team the second half of the season, so getting that down early is important for first year coach Josh Lundy.

"We do a lot of different drills that interact, and go a long with serve receive, without training straight serve receive everyday," Lundy said. "We do a lot of drills that make them pass a lot so they're getting more comfortable doing it."

With 24 on the team that includes 11 freshmen there are plenty of new faces to work into the rotation this season.

"I've watched this group of junior high girls come up since they were in seventh grade," senior Orissa Gardner said. "They've got a lot of talent coming in, and I'm really excited to see how they mesh with our existing varsity."

The six Panther seniors have been taking a mentoring role early this season.

"It's nerve racking," said Gardner. "I know a lot of these girls are looking up to me because I've been playing for five, six years, and they're looking for someone to guide them, just as much as they're looking for someone to kind of teach them what they're doing, and I hope I'm doing a good job."

On the court Lundy is looking to Gardner to be one of his top outside hitters, while Cooley is slated to do the setting.

"We've been doing this a very long time together, so I think we kind of have our groove down," Gardner said. "It'll be a little rocky coming into it just because it's been a while since we've picked up a ball, but I think that the two of us will mesh very well together once we get our motion going."

As for the other hitters, that's a work in progress so far this season.

"I'm still working on another outside," said Lundy. "We have Summer (Morris) that's coming up in our middle, and will hopefully do really well."

It'll be up to Cooley to bring all these different parts of the team together on the court.

"It's really exciting," she said. "There's a lot of opportunity to get it out there. I ask them how they want it set and they give me recommendations."

The first goal this year is to have a better start to the season so they don't dig quite such a huge hole. And for Gardner that starts with mental toughness.

"We learned that we have to have resilience," she said. "I think a big issue with our team is that once we start to see mistakes we get down on ourselves really quickly. Last year, after a lot of unfortunate matches, I think we've built a lot of resistance to losing, and hopefully we can use that as our perseverance to stay in the game longer, and stay out of our heads."

The PIAA handed out new classifications this year with NEB now just one of four teams in District IV, Class A, along with defending district champs Sayre, Galeton, and Sugar Valley.

It's a tantalizing goal, but one Lundy wants to put on the back burner for now.

"That's definitely on our table, but we're just trying to win some more games this year," he said. "Do better at passing, and work on the fundamentals. The score will end up taking care of itself in the end if we put in the work on all of our skills and potential."

ROSTER

Ella Cooley (12)

Charity Coon (12)

Orissa Gardner 912)

Lily Gernert (12)

Lily Marcy (12)

Olivia Reeves (12)

Myra Brister (11)

Cheyanne Mahoney (11)

Brianna Pelka (11)

Carlie Wheaton (11)

Allie Kuhn (10)

Holly Marcy (10)

Makenna Taylor (10)

Adalynn Burgert (9)

Onaleigh Gardner (9)

Dailee Gow (9)

Julia Gray (9)

Summer Morris (9)

Cora Pousen (9)

Nittany Puza (9)

Ashlynn Symonds (9)

Adrianna Vail (9)

Aspen Vandermark (9)

Saylor Waite (9)

SCHEDULE

Aug 29 at Williamson Tournament

Sep. 1 vs CV, 7 p.m.

Sep. 3 at Sayre, 7 p.m.

Sep. 8 at Wellsboro, 7 p.m.

Sep. 10 vs Williamson, 7 p.m.

Sep. 15 vs Troy, 7 p.m.

Sep. 17 at Canton, 7 p.m.

Sep. 19 at Loyalsock, 12:30 p.m.

Sep. 22 at NPL, 7 p.m.

Sep. 24 vs Towanda, 7 p.m.

Sep. 28 at South Williamsport, 7 p.m.

Oct. 1 at Wyalusing, 7 p.m.

Oct. 5 vs Hughesville, 7 p.m.

Oct. 6 at CV, 7 p.m.

Oct. 15 at Williamson, 7 p.m.

Oct. 20 vs Canton, 7 p.m.