Waukon volleyball team plays to 8-19 season under first-year head coach

The Waukon volleyball team played to a season record of 8-19 during its 2023 campaign under first-year head coach Carley Sweeney. Included in that overall season mark was a step forward for the net Tribe in its Northeast Iowa Conference (NEIC) result, as a late September home victory over Decorah in a five-set marathon marked the first NEIC dual match victory for the Indians in just over two years’ time. That lone NEIC dual match victory tied the net Tribe with those same Vikings with a single league win each, but gave the Indians the head-to-head advantage for fifth place in this season’s final six-team standings.

That lone NEIC win came during the third of three two-match win strikes the Indians put together throughout this season, with six of this season’s wins coming against teams from the Upper Iowa Conference. In between those streaks were similar surges of no more than three losses in a row, but the season’s rollercoaster ride ended with a final streak of 10 losses that included falling to all five fellow conference teams in the annual NEIC Tournament prior to this year’s campaign being brought to a close in the opening round of Class 3A Regional Tournament play at 12th-ranked Dubuque Wahlert, a team that played its way to this year’s Class 3A State Tournament.

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