Reloaded Niwot girls volleyball set for new season

While it hasn't come simply by chance, Tony Engel enjoys a luxury that not every high school head coach possesses.

For the third consecutive year, over 75 students tried out for Engel's Niwot High School girls volleyball program, giving him more than enough talent to replace the six seniors he lost following last season. The only downside is that Engel was forced to make cuts with roughly 50 total roster spots available within Niwot's varsity, junior varsity, C and D teams.

"This year was by far the hardest year of the last three or four to make cuts because there were a lot of kids in the gym that knew what they were doing," the second-year Niwot head coach said. "We're going to be strong up and down the entire program. From JV, C and D, I think we'll be very competitive."

At the top of his program, Engel's varsity squad brings back a good chunk of talent from last season's 21-9 team, which reached the Class 4A state semifinals. Notable returners include junior setter Anne Haley, senior outside hitter Julia Dadey, middle hitter/right side senior Lizzy Kaus, senior Sami Sessa and Engel's daughter, senior middle blocker Addison Engel.

The younger Engel tallied 203 kills, 66 blocks and 25 aces last season and committed to the University of Alabama in late April.

"I'm not only a proud coach but a proud dad," Engel said. "I'm hopeful that she has a lot of fun and that we do well as a team. (I hope) she figures out how to grab some of her teammates and throw them on her back and just see how good we can be."

Coach Engel has also noticed strong leadership from Dadey, Haley and Kaus.

"Lizzy comes to work with the hard hat on every day and puts in the time," Engel said. "(She's) another focused kid about trying to be good."

At the same time, Niwot will be relying on some less-proven talent to step up this season. Engel, who's coaching solo this year, believes that he may have to put some extra work into developing a younger group.

"We've got some definite returning skilled players that have been on the floor before, but it's going to be a new team," Engel said. "I've got to step up my game, honestly. It's going to be a little bit more teaching and coaching this year than maybe I had to do last year."

Within that younger bunch, outside hitter Bella Berger saw the varsity court briefly last year as a freshman but is now expected to play a major role for the Cougars.

"Bella Berger is a special kid in terms of athletic ability," Engel said. "She's a sophomore and is squarely in that starting lineup."

Back-to-back 20-win seasons and an 11-4 2020 campaign likely doesn't mean much to the younger Cougars who are fighting for varsity spots. The bar has been set high in recent years and Engel believes that several of his players are looking to "prove" themselves this fall.

"We're going to have to put in the time and effort to show some people that we belong," Engel said. "That's going to be pretty great to watch them grow and become what I think they can be as players and definitely as people."

Niwot heads to Silver Creek High School for its season opener on Sept. 5 at 6:30 p.m.