Cookeville High School Volleyball Team Looking To Make More Noise This Season

Coming off of a historic season that saw them go 31-14 and make it to the elimination round of the state tournament, the Cookeville High School Volleyball team is ready to make even more noise this season.

Led by second-year head coach Jami Cherry, the Cavaliers are returning five seniors and seven juniors from last year’s team. With the historic run they went on, it will be hard to surpass that mark left by the 2018 squad, but that is just how Cherry wanted it.

“We set the bar high, we have a very high goal,” Cherry said. “Our goal was to make it to state, because we hadn’t been to state in 10 years … We ended up finishing fifth in the state, which tied the school record for the highest (the program) has ever finished.”

Last season’s success was jump-started by a 5-0 start that saw CHS lose a mere three sets in their first five matches. That, compounded with three other separate streak of five wins or more allowed them to reach their goal of making the state tournament. Add in that the team simply had a group players that enjoyed playing with one another, and you have the ingredients for a breakout season.

“I had four seniors, who (provided) awesome leadership,” Cherry said, regarding what made her team so successful. “I knew that we would have good chemistry within our team, and we spent a lot of time together … our girls built such a bond within each other, that we didn’t just play for each individual; we played together as a team for each other.”

A 31-14 record and an 8-0 mark in district play is hard to top. It’s even tougher to finish higher than fifth in the state in a sport when you’re already considered one of the elite teams. Make no mistake however, Cherry and her squad plan on sprinting past those marks this season.

“My 12 girls are hungry, I feel like they are hungry for a state title,” Cherry said. “We can’t take anything for granted. They’ve been working hard all off-season … We just have to play one game at a time because at any given time, anyone can sneak up on you.”

“We talk about goal-setting and we write our goals down … our team-goal is to win state. We don’t expect anything less.”