When Janelle Noel took over as head coach at Jefferson West four years ago, she inherited a volleyball program that had been averaging less than five wins per season.
 
So her first season, the goals were modest.
 
“Our goal was to double that,” Noel said of the Tigers’ win total. “And we got to nine.”
 
In each ensuing season, Noel and the Tigers have set the bar just a bit higher and so far they’ve clear that bar. Year 2 it was reaching double-digit victories, the Tigers won 15. Last year, it was post a winning season and the Tigers went 20-19.
 
“Every year, we’ve set our goal a little higher,” Noel said. “ This year, it’s a step further. We won regionals last year and that was big for us. Now it’s let’s make it to state, 25 wins, keep up the winning season.”
 
The bulk of the 2025 season has yet to play out but West has already made some early noise that it’s capable of ending the program’s lengthy state tournament drought. After splitting its Big East League openers with Nemaha Central (loss) and St. Marys (win), West enjoyed a huge finish to last week, going 6-0. 
 
The Tigers started the late-week surge with a victory over perennial Class 5A power Seaman, taking a 3-1 win in a best-of-five match with the Vikings. The Tigers won the first two sets 25-21 and 25-17 before Seaman took the third 20-25. West came back strong in the fourth, rolling 25-11 to win the night.
 
 “I knew they would be down a little bit this year and we should be up,” Noel said of the victory. “But just to prove to ourselves that we can go out and compete with anybody if we just play like we can play. That was a huge, huge boost of confidence going into Saturday’s tournament knowing that. They’re still a 5A school with a lot of athletes and are pretty darn good.”
 
Riding the momentum of that victory, West capped the week by capturing the championship at its home tournament by going 5-0. It marked the Tigers’ first title at their tournament in more than a decade.
 
West didn’t drop a set on the day, beating Sabetha (25-20, 25-22), Horton (25-15, 25-16), Santa Fe Trail (25-16, 25-17), St. Marys (25-5, 25-10) and Royal Valley (25-18, 25-15) with the win over the Panthers being the title-clinching win as Royal Valley finished the day 4-1.
 
“I knew Royal Valley was going to be a big one,” Noel said of beating the Panthers, who were a Class 3A state tournament team last year. “We struggled with them last year and they have some power hitters. We were able to maintain that focus and stay in control of that match and take it to them.
 
“It was pretty exciting for them. The day before at practice I told them, ‘This is a tournament you can win but you’ve got to show up determined and focused.’ And that’s kind of where we faltered a bit last year. There were games we could have won but there was just a little bit of that confidence piece in believing that they actually could do it and keeping that focus and intensity for an entire game and not just for a set or two. We had a few moments where we did lose our focus and confidence last weekend, but we were able to settle down and regroup and go back out and just play lights out. That was huge for these girls to see we can do this.”
 
Sophomore Liz Deeter led the Tigers at the tournament, recording 43 kills, while sophomore Emmie Dean added 22 and senior Addison Schwinn had 13. Junior Harriet Dean had 45 assists and junior Savannah Jackson added 37 assists.
 
In the win over Seaman, Schwinn had 12 kills while Deeter had 9 and Emmie Dean 7 and Harriet Dean had 21 assists and Jackson 18.
 
West’s schedule hasn’t slowed down as fresh off winning the tournament title, the Tigers played Monday night against 5A Basehor-Linwood and 4A Tonganoxie, falling to both, before getting right back into league play on Tuesday with a sweep of Perry-Lecompton and Royal Valley.
 
But the Tigers’ roster was well-equipped to handle the heavy workload early. West lost just one senior off last year’s team that captured a 3A regional title and advanced to a sub-state championship before falling to league rival Nemaha Central.
 
“One of the big things we talked about at the beginning of the season is we finally brought back a team with a lot of experience,” Noel said. “When you start your season off and have a lot of new girls, a lot of young girls, and even sometimes with those experienced girls, you have a lot of nerves in playing with people you haven’t played with. It’s hard to find that right combination and gel together. But that was one of our big advantages coming in. Our team was pretty much back and we’ve added a couple players to that. We knew who was going to be where and who was going to do what and we had those connections figured out. It was nice to start the season with that confidence there.”
 
And if last year’s success wasn’t enough of a confidence builder for the Tigers, they got an extra boost in the spring when several members of the volleyball team helped West’s softball team advance to the Class 3A state tournament.
 
“Success breeds success,” Noel said. “You have a little taste of state, sub-state and want more and know what it takes to get there.”
 

 
OTHER VOLLEYBALL STANDOUTS

• Clay Center captured the Marysville Invitational for the second straight year. The Tigers dropped a 25-22, 15-25, 23 decision to Holton in pool play, but got a rematch with the Wildcats in the title match and took a dominating 250-11, 25-16 victory. The tournament title is the sixth straight regular-season championship for the Tigers dating back to the 2023 season.
• Rossville is 7-0 after capturing the title at its home tournament without dropping a set on the day. The Bulldawgs swept Wellsville 25-19, 25-15 in the semifinals and then handled Burlington 25-19, 25-19 in the championship match.
• Silver Lake captured the championship at the Salina South Invitational, dominating the field on its way to a 5-0 day in which the Eagles didn’t drop a set. The Eagles’ closest match was a 25-17, 25-21 win over Chapman. Paige Heiman, Jaiden Wise, Jaylie Whitehead, Kylie Hanni and Karys Deiter all made the all-tournament team with Whitehead named the co-most outstanding defensive player. Wise had 44 kills at the tourney while Paige Winsor had 27, Deiter 21 and Heiman 19. Hanni had 109 assists and Whitehead had 52 digs. The Eagles then started Big East League play with a sweep of Riley County and Royal Valley, the 25-19, 25-5 win over Royal Valley avenging a sub-state championship loss to the Panthers to end last season.
• Rock Creek claimed the title at the Amy Schutter Invitational at Wabaunsee to open the season. The Mustangs edged Centralia 25-21, 25-19 in the finals to cap a 5-0 day.
• Emporia’s Jade Xu recorded her 1,000th career kill in Monday’s split with Lansing and Topeka High.