Western Christian volleyball looks to make a return to the state tournament in the ’26-’27 season

SIOUX CITY, IA (KCAU ) - The high school volleyball season is just around the corner, and teams all across Siouxland are preparing to begin their mission towards the state crown!

Western Christian rose to dominance in recent years, making four straight state title appearances until last year when they lost in the 3A semifinal round.

Now the Wolfpack is regrouping ahead of another season. But having graduated four senior starters, there are shoes to fill.

Luckily, they had a young core last year. Some returning help includes junior Morgan Kooiman, who led her team with 396 kills last season. Plus senior Breslyn Kooima taking back her role at the libero position after leading the Wolfpack with 487 digs and coming in second on her squad with 45 aces in 2025.

Kooima smiled, saying, "We are not thinking about the past. Not thinking about last year. It's a new year, so we are just trying to take every practice we can and not focus on that. Focus on every game no matter the opponent."

"You can't win every single year; otherwise it's not a big enough goal. I think we really learned how to work together as a team, how to handle tough moments, and how to be together when the moments get hard," added Kooiman.

Head coach Tammie Veerbeek explained, "You can't just look at the last game of the year as our total season. Even though we had goals towards the end of the season, we want to build slowly. We have internal goals within our team, and our identity of who we are as Christians doesn't just come from winning games. We are more than just volleyball players, and that is something we really preach here at Western. Yet we want to use our abilities, and we are going to compete to the best of our abilities to try and be the best we can at the end of the season."

The Wolfpack will see their first action of the year on Saturday, August 29th at the Ankeny Centennial Early Bird Volleyball Tournament.