Lions volleyball reflects on successful season

MOSES LAKE — The Moses Lake Christian Academy/Christian Covenant School Lions ended their season with a 10-8 overall record in the district tournament. Lions head coach Dean Spurbeck said it was a great season for the team and highlighted the development the program has seen in recent years. 

“For the season in general, I thought we did good and I thought we learned a lot,” said Spurbeck. “We had to replace five (seniors), so a lot of the girls were coming off of the JV or out of middle school and they all stepped up and played pretty well.” 

The Lions would finish fourth in the Central Washington B league, which gave them a first-round bye in the district tournament. There they would go on the road to Entiat to play a neutral site game against the number five-seeded Pateros and would fall in a hard-fought 1-3 match to finish their season.  

Though the Lions fell early in the playoffs, Spurbeck said the team had gained a great amount of experience from the season that has him excited for building up the team’s future. Throughout the season, the team made strides in growing mentally and physically stronger, which will be something that will continue as their careers progress. 

He said that the Lions played incredibly well this season, but the one spot where they were always working to improve was their consistency in each game. For the younger player,s especially, the greatest lesson was in learning how to compete at such a high level. 

“They are learning to compete, they are learning how to try to lead and be counted on,” said Spurbeck. “I think fundamentally they learned things very well, now they just have to learn to take it to the next stage.” 

The Lions will be graduating one senior off the team this year, SanTahna Ferguson, who acted as a strong and athletic leader and will be greatly missed next season, said Spurbeck. He hopes the younger players will take on her role in the future and continue the legacy she left for the program. 

The future of the Lions volleyball program is looking very bright, he said with the success that varsity found this year and the talent that is being shown at both the JV and middle school levels at MLCA/CCS. The volleyball program has been working over the years to develop the younger players to be ready to make the jump to varsity and this year was an example of their successes in that effort.  

“We’re hoping that by the time they get to high school, they already know a lot of what they’re supposed to be doing,” said Spurbeck. “It’s taken a little bit to get there, but it’s starting to look pretty good now. (The girls) seem to like the program and they seem to like volleyball, so that helps as well. 

    Vesta Koethke from the Lions keeps an eye on the ball on the other side of the net and stays prepared for the chance to hit the ball back over.
  

    MLCA/CCS’s Ava Bishop runs toward the court after serving the ball during a home game this season.
  

    Abby Stanley, a junior for the Lions, gets ready to serve the ball to her opponent during a home game at the start of the season.