By Coach Kelly Erickson

Central kicked off the 2026 volleyball season Aug. 25, at the Lisbon Classic, finishing the night 1-3. While we came away with one win, we also saw several areas where we can continue to grow and improve as the season progresses.

We started the night with a strong 2-0 victory over Calamus-Wheatland, winning 25-12 and 25-12. Serving was led by Tenley Bormann, who went 19/20 with one ace. Ella Frieden also had a great night at the service line, going 10/10 with three aces. On offense, Ella led the team with seven kills, followed by Brylee Erickson with five and Carlie Bergan with four. Zoey Armstrong led the team with 14 assists. Defensively, Zoey led the way with seven digs, followed by Brylee with six and Carlie five.

One area we are continuing to focus on in practice is serving. We missed eight serves in this match, finishing at 84%. Our goal this season is to serve 90% or better in every match. Overall, it was a great way to start the season, and we came away with a win while also identifying areas we can continue to improve.

Next, we faced a tough Alburnett team, falling in two sets, 14-25 and 18-25.

Our serving improved slightly, as we missed just five serves and finished at 85%. Tenley led the way, going 7/7 with an ace. Ella went 5/5, while Carlie and Brylee both went 5/6. Carlie recorded two aces, while Brylee added one. We struggled with serve receive against some tough Alburnett serves, and we also had some struggles offensively with our hitting. Zoey recorded seven assists and chipped in on defense with five digs, while Brylee led the team with six digs.

Against a strong Lisbon team, the Warriors battled hard but fell 17-25 and 18-25.

Our serving was much improved in this match, finishing at 94%, right where we want to be. Tenley led the way, going 13/13 with one ace, while Zoey had a perfect 9/9 serving with two aces. On offense, Avery Fette and Ella Frieden led the team with three kills each. Zoey added six assists. Defensively, Zoey led with six digs, followed by Avery, Ella and Carlie, who each had five digs.

We ended the night with a close battle against Clayton Ridge, eventually falling in three sets—falling in set one, 19-25, but coming back to win set two 25-19, and finally losing in set three 14-16. Serving was a struggle in this match, as we finished at 77%, missing 13 serves over the three sets. Zoey went 7/7 with two aces, Ella went 11/14 with two aces and Tenley went 9/11. Offensively, Brylee led the Warriors with 11 kills, followed by Ella with 10. Zoey had an impressive 20 assists. Defensively, Brylee led the team with 12 digs, followed by Avery and Tenley with 11 digs each.

On Aug. 27, the Warriors had their home opener against Oelwein, and what a great way to open our home season. The Warriors battled hard and came away with a four-set victory: 23-25, 25-17, 25-11, 25-19.

I was really pleased with how we played. We played hard, played together as a team and hustled after every ball. The energy and teamwork were exactly what we want to see from this young group.

Our serving was much improved, finishing at 89%, just shy of our 90% goal. Ella led the way, going 21/23 with five aces. Tenley went 21/22, while Brylee went 15/16 with five aces. It was great to see us being aggressive and confident at the service line.

Offensively, Brylee led the team with 15 kills, followed by Ella with 12 and Carlie with eight. Zoey did an outstanding job running our offense, finishing with an impressive 34 assists.

Defensively, Brylee led the team with 19 digs, followed by Tenley with 18. Avery and Zoey each had 16 digs, while Ella added 15.

Overall, Brylee had a great all-around performance, leading the team both offensively and defensively. One of the things I was most pleased to see in this match was the number of contributors we had. Looking at the stats, you can see players stepped up in different areas on both offense and defense.

On Aug. 29, the Warriors traveled to Edgewood for their first tournament of the season. It was a long day of volleyball with plenty of close games and some good things to build on as we continue to grow as a team. We started the day against Kee High, losing in three sets: 16-21, 18-21 and 12-15. All three sets were very close, but we just couldn’t finish when it mattered. Serving was an area of struggle, as we finished at 82%, missing nine serves. Zoey led the way, going 8/10 with four aces, while Ella was a perfect 8/8. On offense, Brylee and Avery led the team with five kills each, followed by Tenley and Ella with four kills each. Zoey finished with 19 assists. Defensively, Tenley led with seven digs, followed by Ella and Carlie with six digs each.

Next, we played Ed-Co. We played better but came up just short, losing 17-21 and 20-22. Our serving improved to 87%, but we are still working toward our goal of 90% or better. Avery went 9/10, Brylee 7/8, Tenley was a perfect 7/7 and Ella went 6/7. Brylee led the offense with three kills, followed by Zoey and Tenley with two kills each. This was very much a defensive battle for us. Brylee and Tenley led the team with seven digs each, followed by Avery with five and Carlie and Zoey with four each.

We then faced MFL MarMac, coming up short in three sets: 12-21, 21-19 and 12-15. Serving continued to be an area of concern as we finished at 80%, missing nine serves. Brylee led the offense with eight kills, followed by Avery with six and Carlie five. Ella also contributed three blocks at the net. Brylee led the defense with nine digs, followed by Avery and Tenley with five each. Tenley continued to be a consistent server, going 9/10, while Ella was a perfect 7/7. Zoey also finished with 18 assists.

We ended pool play against a tough South Winn team, losing 9-21 and 12-21. Serving was again at 82%, with Avery going a perfect 5/5 and Brylee going 5/6 with two aces. Brylee led the offense with three kills, while Avery and Lyla each added a kill. Ella led the defense with eight digs, followed by Brylee with three.

In bracket play, we faced East Buchanan and came away with a win in two sets, 25-24 and 25-11. Serving was at 86%, with seven missed serves. Ella led the offense with an impressive nine kills, followed by Avery with three. Defensively, Ella and Tenley led the team with five digs each, and Zoey finished with 14 assists.

Overall, there are definitely some things we need to continue working on, especially serving, communication and energy. Our serving percentage was not where we want it to be, and communication and energy were areas we lacked at times on Saturday. The good news is these are things we can control and improve.

There were also some bright spots throughout the day, and we saw some great individual performances. We will take what we learned from Saturday and get back to work.

This week is a little slower for us. We had a home triangular Sept. 1 against Clayton Ridge and North Cedar, followed by the Varsity Midland Tournament on Sept. 5.