Experience.  That is the key to the success of this year’s Cotter volleyball team. This key ingredient has the team believing they can go places this year.

Last year the Ramblers had a successful season, featuring signature wins over highly seeded Fillmore Central and P-EM. The team entered the playoffs as a #3 seed and hosted Wabasha-Kellogg in a tough first round match-up. The girls and fans anticipated a win and to move on to the Mayo Civic Center the following Saturday.

Things did not go as planned. Cotter was swept 3-0 by a tough Wabasha team. Cotter lost some valuable seniors including starters Anna Morgan, Ceili Demarias, Olivia Nisbit and Jenna Rickoff. Although those are tough losses, the team will return many starters and valuable players.

No returning player is more valuable than Lexi Hadaway. As a sophomore Lexi was a dominant force on the court.  She was nicknamed ‘the hammer’ due to her vicious spikes. In the summer going into junior year, Lexi tore her ACL and that knocked her out for all of her junior year. Now she’s back and better than ever.

Partnering with Lexi is her twin sister Kelli, and possibly the best setter in the district will return as a highly recruited college player. The twin to twin attack will be deadly this year if Lexi can stay healthy.

Along with the twins, Ellie Macal and Abree Dieterman will return as three and two year varsity starters. Their leadership will prove pivotal this year as they battle through their final season.

Allie French, the starting libero, will also be back, the very talented junior is expected to make a big jump from last year, as she started via trial by fire, and did a very good job holding down her spot. Grace Miller also returns as a valuable player off the bench and is expected to make an appearance as a starter this year.

This year, the expectations are high, very high.

“We expect to win the section this year, our chemistry with each other is as good as it gets and it is going to take us places this year,” said senior Grace Miller.

“We’ve been playing with each other for most of our lives so this should be a very successful year, ” said senior Ellie Macal, describing the team’s chemistry.

“Leadership is going to bring us success this year because all of our seniors have years of varsity experience under our belts as we come into this season,” Abree Dieterman, another senior leader said.

With the chemistry and leadership on the team this year, expect them to make a strong playoff push this season.

The Ramblers started off the season hot on  Thursday, October 8, as they beat reigningThree Rivers Conference champs Caledonia 3-2.