Manitou Springs High School started their 2025-2026 girls volleyball season on Aug.11. The new head coach, Jeff Divine is looking forward to the new season.
Divine hopes the girls work hard and push themselves to the best of their ability. “We want to be a competitive team that grows throughout the season, continues to get better and competes,” he said.
To continue to grow their team they have goals for practices. “We usually try to have a very competitive, productive practice,” Divine said.
Although Divine was unable to be with the girls last year, from what he saw on film he feels that the girls had a hard season. “They never got any cohesiveness or confidence,” he said. “We’re trying to make that better.”
He believes they have a real chance at doing really well this season. “If they work hard, they could have a winning record or even better than that, make the regional playoffs,” Divine said.
Overall, Divine is excited to see the girls potential and has a good feeling about this season. “We have a wonderful group of girls throughout the program with a lot of potential,” he said. “I feel like we can do big things if we stay together and don’t have drama.”
Assistant coach Cory Urban hopes that the girls and the program itself continue to grow, not just this season but also throughout all of their high school seasons. “One of my goals is to continue to build the success of the volleyball program and be a little bit better each year,” Urban said.
Urban’s main goal is to help the girls thrive and feel more confident in their abilities as a team and an individual. “I want them to be successful in winning some games and successful in feeling confident on the court,” she said.
MSHS’s varsity team competes between 19 to 22 games a season, while the JV and C teams play 19.
With the limited amount of time in the volleyball season, records can be hard to change midway through the season. “They got down on themselves last season because their record probably didn’t reflect what they were capable of,” Urban said. “I would love to see their record this year reflect the talent of the team.”
The volleyball team has all new coaching staff this year, paving the way for new opportunities. “I’m really excited to be in high school. I think the most exciting part about it is that the majority of the girls in the program I have already coached when they were in middle school,” Urban said. “It’s really fun to see their growth as they become high schoolers.”
The captains for varsity this year include seniors Aleia McBride and Gracie Esterline.
McBride wants to be a good leader for the team. “My goals for the season individually, I just want to be a good leader, a good teammate, someone that everyone can just look to when we’re down and just need someone who’s consistent there for everyone,” McBride said.
Esterline feels that the biggest part about being a leader is to be there for the team. “Having someone who believes in us and sees potential in us makes us feel a lot better, Considering last season was rough,” she said.
Overall, the captains and coaches are excited to show what they can do and be competitive. “I feel really good about this season. As a team, we have good energy. We’re all super excited, and it just feels a lot different than last year,” McBride said. “It feels like we’re actually competitive and we want to win.”
