Nikki Kueck arrived at the Calvary Lutheran gym Monday afternoon with her hands full, 10 minutes early to greet her team for the final day of preparation ahead of today's season opener against Belle.
Kueck had just made the seven-mile trek down Tanner Bridge Road from her part-time teaching job at Immanuel Lutheran, and trailing her were her two boys, ages 5 and nearly 2. Expecting her first girl in "three weeks or less," she certainly has her hands full these days.
Nonetheless, Kueck finds herself in a more comfortable situation than in years past as coach of the Lady Lions.
Calvary went 14-12-3 last year and made it to the district finals before falling to New Haven.
"I would say (last season) was our best season here," Kueck said.
The Lady Lions know New Haven is again the roadblock to Calvary making the state playoffs for a first time.
"The girls have definite aspirations to play well and beat New Haven at some point," Kueck said. "New Haven is a very strong program and has been very strong for some time.
"They've had more district championships than we've even had years of the program."
In years past, Kueck would have to spend time on the basics with her players. But this season, she has players with varsity experience and young talent that has played on competitive club teams.
"My first two or three seasons I had seven girls that played at the varsity level, and generally ... two or three of those girls had never played volleyball before," she said. "Now we are at a point where our program is building and I'm getting a good amount of freshmen every year that have had experience playing volleyball, so my role as a coach has really changed."
The Lady Lions will return four starters from last year, but will quickly have to fill spots at outside hitter. Last season's top performers in the kills category were outside hitters Emily Layson and Jena Fischer, who were both lost to graduation. Junior middle hitter Katie Goodin (56 kills last year) and junior Kyra Wiegers (40) will be expected to fill that void.
Brooke Rollins, fourth in kills last year (30), won't return as she will play softball for Calvary instead.
Kueck admitted outside hitter is Calvary's weakness, but said her middle hitters are strong, with freshman Olivia Bexten teaming up with Goodin.
"I do think they'll lead our team in kills," Kueck said. "We're going to be more dependent on the middle hitters than we have in the past years because our middle seems to be a little bit more dominant."
Libero Kara Bernskoetter is the lone senior, as she led the team in digs (76) and aces (68) last season. Setter Rebecca Thompson is back for her junior season, and she led the team in assists last year (117). Another freshman who will get serious minutes is Grace Smith, who will help out in the assists category.
The Lady Lions are more confident after a successful season and competing in summer activites in Eldon and Licking.
"Getting them to play together really helped them in getting used to the rotation and just building each other up," Kueck said. "We were able to compete against teams that I think the girls a couple years ago would have thought there was no way we had a chance to beat them, but we were competing and n sometimes beating those big schools. It really has helped their confidence."
Unlike in years past, Kueck will be coaching for the win column. And with a baby on the way and a big plate in front of her, she looks forward to the challenge.
"I expect this season to be stronger than last season," she said. "And the girls have already told me that they would like to do better than last season as well."
The opener against Belle is set for a 6 p.m. start.