Coming off of a 12-12 season a year ago in which they finished fifth in the Cross County Conference with an 8-4 league record, the Covington Lady Buccs volleyball team has plenty of motivation under second-year coach Linsdey Sullenberger.

"We definitely want to improve on last year," said Sullenberger. "At this point I'm not sure what other teams in our league look like, but obviously Miami East will be good again. We want to challenge them or whoever it is for the top spot in the league."

And with all but two players back from a year ago, Sullenberger feels her team has the potential to do just that.

"We have the talent," she continued. "It's a matter of doing something with it. We have to find a way to play good volleyball on a consistent basis. That, and stay healthy."

Covington returns All-CCC performer and four-year starter Caitlyn Crawford to lead the charge, along with fellow seniors Haley Reames (CCC Honorable Mention), Shelby Kihm, Hannah Pond and Sami Snyder. Also returning are juniors Zoe Reck and Shelby Wagg.

"We have a good nucleus of experienced volleyball players," Sullenberger said. "Last year, being it was my first year here, it took a while for the girls to get use to me and how I like to do things. But this year we were able to hit the ground running."

Which allowed the Lady Buccs to focus on volleyball.

"We got the kids in here earlier and it allowed us to spend more time developing our skills and fundamentals," she continued. "Mentally and physically, our conditioning is much better than it was a year ago at this time."

Rounding out the varsity lineup for Covington are juniors Anna Snyder, Jenna Rindler, Olivia Moody, Lindsey Frantz and Caitlin Copeland along with freshmen Jessica Dammeyer and Morgan Arbogast.

Pushing for playing time at the junior varsity level are sophomores Alya Alexander and Jade Overman with freshmen, Alex Gast, Ariel Robinson, Halie Winn, Kenzie Atkinson, Lauren Houshell, Megan Lange and Raquelle Bowman.

"We have a nice mixture of upperclassmen and younger girls," said Sullenberger. "We also have Alex (Christian) as our junior varsity coach and that helps a lot because she played here and went on to play at Ohio Northern. That bodes well for the future."

The immediate future appears to be bright if Covington can put it all together.

"We have some hitters with some size and we have a nice setter," Sullenberger said. "If we can shore up the defense behind them, we have the potential to be pretty good."

Just how good remains to be seen.