Lady Cyclone volleyball looking to build on 2024 season

Published 11:06 am Friday, August 1, 2025

Star Correspondent

After a remarkable 2024 season that saw the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones go undefeated in conference play and make a deep postseason run, the team is preparing to retool and reload for another shot at success in 2025.

Although the loss of five senior starters — most notably in terms of height and experience — will be a challenge, head coach Greg Abarientos remains optimistic about the potential of his returning squad.

“I think that we can be really good this year,” Abarientos said. “We graduated five seniors who we are going to miss — a lot of their height. Even though we are a little bit shorter than we were last year, we’ve got a bunch of good returners coming in.”

Leading that returning group is senior Ansley Wampler, who Abarientos called “an awesome player.” Alongside Wampler, the Cyclones return three players who have experience playing on the right side, as well as a setter who has held down a varsity role since her freshman year.

“The expectations are that we should be pretty good, but we have got a lot of things that we are trying to adjust to right now,” Abarientos added.

With size no longer their primary advantage, the Lady Cyclones are shifting their focus to out-hustling and outlasting opponents on the court — particularly on defense and serve receive.

“I think our plan is to be just really annoying,” said Abarientos. “What I mean is that you never let the ball hit the ground and really tire up players that way or tire out teams that way. We have a good consistent core who moves around and flies around, and that’s something that we really like to do here — just fly around, get all the balls up, and that’s what we are going to try to do: frustrate teams that way.”

While the team may not have the dominant height of last season’s squad, their energy, hustle and experience could prove to be just as dangerous to opponents.

With the preseason in full swing, Abarientos is emphasizing total effort and mental toughness to his team as they prepare to build off last year’s accomplishments.

“We have been telling them that they just need to really put it all out there for every single ball, make sure we are focusing up, and that just reassuring them that we can be really good,” he said. “We just have to get over that hump that we have right now.”

If the Lady Cyclones can buy into that message and refine their scrappy, all-out style of play, another memorable season could be on the horizon in Elizabethton.