Cape volleyball looks ahead to season
The Cape volleyball team is preparing for the season with a full squad of varsity and junior varsity players who are excited to get to the action of 2021. The varsity team went 11-3 in 2020 and fell in the quarterfinals of the DIAA state tournament to a strong team from Delaware Military Academy, but Cape head coach Tyler Coupe is looking forward to this year’s schedule.
“I’m extremely happy with how our four sessions of tryouts went,” said Coupe, who is in his seventh season. “To have 50 athletes come out the first day is just a great sign that our sport is continuing to grow. It was extremely difficult for us coaches to narrow down our teams. There was a good, strong pool of talent to choose from of both returning players and new players, whether they be freshmen new to school or sophomores and juniors trying out for the first time. Our varsity team is returning seven players, so half of our team is new to the varsity game in regard to skill and speed. We have our work cut out on what we’re going to need to do to be successful.”
“I think it’s definitely going to be a year full of hard work and a lot of dedication in order to get the team to the spot we need to be to compete with the other teams,” said junior Natalie Derrickson. “But I think it’s going to be so much fun while doing so. Our team has a lot of raw talent, and we just need to focus on working together and playing as a unit versus individually. I’m super pumped for the next couple of months and to see what this team is going to do this season.”
“I’m looking forward to the season,” said 2020 all-state player Rileigh Wilson. “We have a lot of young, new, talented girls that are willing to work hard, and I think at the end of these tough couple weeks of preseason, we’re going to be hungry and say game on. Coupe always preaches getting 1 percent better every day, and I think that’s a big thing we all want to focus on this year.”
The Lady Vikings will open with three home matches. They face Delaware Military Academy Wednesday, Sept. 8, then follow it up with Delmarva Christian Friday, Sept. 10, and Sussex Tech Thursday, Sept. 16. The schedule is packed with other quality opponents like Newark Charter, Conrad, Ursuline Academy and Indian River.
The Cape junior varsity team looks to improve on its 6-4 record of 2020.
“Our JV team is going to be a really fun group to watch,” said Coupe. “I think there’s more natural athletes on that team than we’ve ever had. It’ll be fun to watch Logan [Shuttleworth] and Pam [Coupe] work with them to help them reach their fullest potential.”
