Sergeant Bluff-Luton volleyball excited to compete this season

SERGEANT BLUFF, Iowa (KCAU) - Five of our high school volleyball teams in Iowa ended the year at the IGHSAU State Tournament, including a Sergeant Bluff-Luton team that has its sights set on another run this fall. The Warriors followed up its 4A State semifinalist year in 2024 with another trip back to Coralville a season ago while adding an unbeaten MRAC record to the list of accomplishments. Head coach Renee Winkel brings back a trio of starters, including setter Bailey Ball. The incoming senior was second in the conference with 697 sets. SB-L has some big shoes to fill following the graduation of top hitter Bre VanDenTop, but the team is excited to find its identity with new players stepping up. Across the board, we have a lot of girls that play a lot of volleyball and a lot of those girls all of the time last year as well. So it's kind of a matter of who can step up. How can we do that? What does that look like?" Winkel said. "They're doing a really good job of in celebrating each other's successes on the court, too, which which makes for a better team." "We're all super hype and our team is just so much fun. Like we're building all the confidence right now. We're doing a training program for confidence, and it's really helping us. Definitely for us right now, it's confidence. Just like being able to snap back from different mistakes that we're making, and I think the program that we're doing is going to help us with that," SB-L setter Bailey Ball added. SB-L begins the year at Glenwood on August 27th. Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KCAU 9 News | Sioux City, IA | News, Weather, and Sports.