SHEPHERD — High expectations surround the Shepherd volleyball team in 2025.
The Fillies are loaded with upperclassmen, including seven seniors that have spent all four years under head coach Kamber Kelly.
“Whether it's at practice, a game, in the classroom, we just push each other," senior Karli Goodell said. "We're honest with each other. That's a really big thing. We're not afraid to call each other out, but it's not taken personally. That team atmosphere really makes us grow."
Among those senior Fillies are a handful of softball players that, last we saw them, were winning the program’s first state championship. That experience in the spring has certainly carried confidence forward.
“They finally got a taste, right? You have a few girls on this team that were a part of that, juniors and seniors, and they're like, 'This is the coolest thing ever,'" Kelly said.
"Obviously, the ultimate goal for every high school program should be a state championship. Volleyball is a tough sport. It's a game of momentum and swings and a lot of it, if you have all the skill in the world that's great, but if you don't have the mental capacity and grit to fight and compete, you can lose at any moment."
“Being able to win a state championship in softball is like being able to get over the hurdle of being able to push through the season all the way through the state championship, so I do think that might carry in to volleyball a little bit just having the experience of pushing through," senior Lauren Anderson said.
It’s a class full of multi-sport girls that also excel in the classroom, setting a precedent for success on the floor and off for the young ones in the Shepherd community.
“The culture really has changed over the last four years. And I do give a lot of credit to that outgoing senior class," Kelly said. "It really kicked it into high gear and these guys are the first outgoing class since that shift. Our junior high program is now huge. Our sixth grade program has now taken off."
Keep an eye on the Fillies in the always competitive Southern B.
