Seniors are considered a source of leadership for their wealth of knowledge and experience.

The St. Louis Catholic volleyball team had no seniors last season but it helped them grow, and that has head coach Bit Thompson excited for the 2024 season.

“It gave them the opportunity to sort of all take a leadership role, rather than rely on some of those seniors,” Thompson said of the lessons her team learned last year. “It is the players’ team. They have taken ownership and figured out ways to make things work and do new, fun and exciting things for team bonding. They have the skill, knowledge and experience, so it has given us the opportunity to play a little bit freer and focus on having fun and connecting with each other.

“Obviously we want to win, but we know that is going to come from having fun and playing our game.”

St. Louis finished 2023 strong, winning 10 of its final 13 regular-season games and the Division III, District 1 championship. The Saints return five first- or second-team all-district players from last year’s bi-district playoff team, hoping to go further this year.

“We are really excited about it,” Thompson said. “The girls put in a lot of work last year, focusing on the fact that they would get this opportunity this year to do it over again and add a few more pieces.

“We have been working really hard on our mental game. We have a lot of skill, so mental our game will be our biggest thing to tackle this year. We are having a lot of fun. They are excited to get back to work.”

The Saints will be strong up front where they return two first-team all-district outside hitters in seniors Emma Broussard, last year’s district MVP, and junior Katie Billeaudeaux. They will be joined by second-team all-district player Grace Adams, a junior right-side hitter.

“Right now we are just hoping to keep everybody healthy,” Thompson said. “They are two strong hitters for us on the outside and we have some strong hitters on the right side.

“We really have a lot of talent. Those are the two that everyone knows. They are standouts and have been doing great so far. We just have to see what it looks like in an actual game. Hopefully they will do what we expect them to do.”

Broussard is one of a group of four seniors that includes defensive player Tayler Wilder and two 6-footers upfront in Clara Powell and Ashley Jones, who earned second-team all-district honors last year.

Powell and Jones create offensive and defensive front plus junior Halie Broussard and freshman Addison Lefort.

“With the freshmen that we are adding, it is a little bit more size, so we are excited about that,” Thompson said. “Our height that comes through ebbs and flows, so we are excited to see what that does for us.

“We have been working hard at blocking, so hopefully that will translate into some games for us.”

First-team all-district junior Alayna Lefort returns at setter.

“She is always working on her game, on her hands and running a little bit of a faster offense,” Thompson said. “All of our hitters are a little bit different in the speed and the height that they need. She has been working really hard on out-of-system play and consistency.”