The Lady Lions volleyball team wrapped up their most successful season since 2004.

Head Coach Jeremy White was hired to oversee the volleyball program in Dec. 2018. The team finished their 2019 fall season with a 14-17 record and a spot in the Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament.

White commented on how he felt about the season overall.

“I think it was great for us going forward,” said White. “It was a great year for our kids here. It’s going to be great for us going forward, developing the program and recruiting and of course, building on the future. We didn’t get to finish the season quite the way we would have liked to, but we can take solace in the fact that they are the beginning of hopefully a great program.”

Jodi Edo, senior middle blocker, explained how White’s coaching style brought the team together and contributed to their success.

“I think Coach Jeremy played a big part because he came to Southeastern and he preached about culture and before, we didn’t have a culture,” explained Edo. “He talked about being a good teammate and all that. So, I think from the spring and from here on, we’ve worked on those qualities and what it takes to be a good team. I think that’s a part that we got better on this year, the teammate quality.”

White emphasized the importance of having a team culture and how it can improve teammate quality.

“We talk about being great teammates all the time,” said White. “Great teammates give good effort, bring good energy, have good attitudes, they can handle criticism from coaching staff and from teammates and utilize it not just to be better players, but to be better people. We do a great job in the community, going out and doing as much community service as possible and putting our faces out there and taking care of the community that supports us. All of that kind of encompasses what we want to do on the court. When we get on the court, we do things together. Culture is centered around that, how great of a team can we be.”

This year, the team made it to the Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament in Conway, Ark. but fell to Sam Houston State in the opening round. Edo commented on how it felt to make it to the tournament for the first time since 2016.

“Great, considering it’s been a while since I’ve been there,” said Edo. “It didn’t end up the way we wanted it to end up, but I’m kind of still happy with the result. It was a close match, and I’m glad to say that we didn’t go down bad at all. We went down fighting. I’m just happy to say that we proved ourselves, that Southeastern volleyball can play in this conference, and I think that it will carry on for the future.”

Looking forward, White hopes to expand the foundation of culture that the team has put in place.

“Our focus is going to be on taking the foundation we built this year in regards to the teammate quality and culture,” said White. “We’ll also build the foundation of the technical skills that we put in place for the kids we have now. By the time we get back to 2020, we’ll have a situation where we’ve got kids that have been in the program for a year to a year and a half. Each year is so different, so you can’t really get too far ahead.”