Despite it being volleyball off-season two amazing players have earned honors on the Lady Pirates volleyball team. Sophomores Lillian Bott and Rosemary Kuegele, both freshmen on varsity two seasons ago, were put on PrepDig’s 2026 Pre-season watch list for this upcoming season. PrepDig is a source for volleyball rankings and recruitment amongst high school players as well as a daily news outlet for high school volleyball related information. The list is formed from the best athletes in Missouri amongst the 2026 graduating class. It’s an honor to say the least. 

“We went through a season last year and they were of course stand outs of our program… having young talent move up in the ranks is very exciting not only for our school but our area. I’m excited to see how they grow into the new season,” said Head Coach Sadie Kosciuk.

For this upcoming season there will only be three seniors confirmed to play, creating a much younger team than the Lady Pirates are used to. This previous season there were eight seniors in the program. With such a young team it questions the opportunities arising and Bott and Keugley are leading the way. 

“It’s obviously taken a lot of hard work, and it’s great to know that it’s paying off. All the time, effort, and money we’ve put into it…just having it all work out is a really good feeling,“ said Kuegele. She was named Second Team All-Conference and First Team All-District this last season as well as hitting a career milestone of 500 digs.

Kuegele plays for the volleyball club High Performance South, on the Premier team, in the 16 year age group which is their highest team for the 16s group. Bott also plays for the same club known as ‘HP South’ but on the diamond team, the second highest team in the club.

“I didn’t really expect it, but it’s definitely exciting,” said Bott. Bott was named First Team All-Conference this past season and Second Team All-District. 

Bott was also claimed as “one of the best true liberos in class 3” by Prep Dig Missouri. It was said that she “knows her role and does it extremely well.” Bott hit 1,000 digs this year, a career milestone and ended the season with 1079 digs. 

Bott and Kuegele encourage more girls wanting to become Lady Pirates to join the team for this upcoming season for 2024-2025. Open gyms for the team begin April 14 from 5-6:30 p.m. They will be every Sunday for the next four weeks.

“Don’t get discouraged because a lot of the time, I know for me I didn’t make a team that I wanted to… I still kept playing and ended up having a lot of fun and grew a lot as a player,” said Bott.