CAMDEN — Preble Shawnee’s volleyball team faced its first real test of the young season when it hosted Bethel on Saturday, Aug. 27.
The Arrows battled to a 5-set win (25-16, 22-25, 25-23, 23-25, 15-6) to remain undefeated at 5-0.
Shawnee also defeated Madison last week 25-16, 25-15, 25-10 on Thursday, Aug. 25.
“Definitely the first big test of the year. I think it shows where we’re at,” Shawnee coach Josh Evans said. “I think we still got a lot of things to build on. Still got a lot of things to work on. They were one of the question marks on the schedule.”
Evans said the match showed him and his team what they need to work on.
“But I’m glad we had a fight and showed us our weaknesses and things we needed to work on,” he said. “Sky’s the limit with this team. So, we’re going to go for it.”
The Arrows were led by senior Harlee Howard with 14 kills and 18 digs. Senior Liv Thompson had nine kills and 14 digs.
Senior Cora Neihoff added seven kills and junior Bella Agee led the team with 31 assists and six digs.
“We’ve been dealing with a lack of communication,” Evans said. “And I think that showed tonight when we were down and getting beat on our communication was down but when we picked it back up, we were firing on all cylinders.”
Evans feels his teams is further along at this point in the season than they were a season ago.
“It’s looking a little bit better than last year,” he said. “We got some depth on the roster. I got some players that could come in and play if I needed them to. I don’t think we’re at 100 percent where I want us to be or where we’re going to end up being during the season. I think this team is going to be one of the top teams around if they keep pushing and keep fighting and keep wanting to go.”
Against Madison, Howard had 15 kills, 10 digs and eight aces. Thompson added nine kills and eight digs and Agee had 31 assists.
Shawnee was scheduled to begin league play this week. They were to host Dixie on Tuesday, Aug. 30 and travel to Arcanum on Thursday, Sept. 1.
