In February of 2025, Jon Spears was tabbed as the next Coffee County volleyball head coach, taking over after 17 years as the team’s assistant coach under Andrew Taylor.

A year-and-a-half later, Spears is gearing up for his second season at the helm of the Lady Raider program and is looking forward to seeing what might be in store for this season’s squad.

It has already been a busy preseason for Coffee County, with the team taking part in multiple camps and playdays as the regular season nears. The Lady Raiders’ results in these tune-ups include a 7-1 set record at the Tree City Playday in Warren County on Aug. 1 and a 5-3 set record at the Putnam County Playday this past Saturday, as well as a strong showing at Western Kentucky University earlier in July.

“We had a really good camp at Western Kentucky, played a lot of good teams. We went 19-11,” Spears said. “I think we’ve got a pretty good team.”

One facet of the Lady Raiders’ game that has stood out this summer has been their defensive play. This has been apparent not only to Spears and his coaching staff, but to many teams who saw them play in Bowling Green as well.

“The head coach at Western Kentucky came by and told me that a lot of teams had been mentioning they loved watching our team play defense,” Spears said. “Of course we’ve got Jenslee Nogodula back as libero. She was phenomenal last year, so we’re looking forward for that. Of course, you’ve got Danni Hillis and Hayleigh Harris who played in the back row back this year, so with those three, we’re looking for really good defense.”

Nogodula, Hillis and Harris are just part of the many talented players returning to this year’s Coffee County team. Several other returning players will be back on the court for the Lady Raiders this fall as well.

“Paisley Dyer came on at the end, so you’ve got her coming back. Cailey Sturgill and Cara Newlin started off hot last year, but we changed some rotations around to get some blocking, but they’ve improved, so we’re looking forward to them,” Spears said. “Then we’re gonna throw a sophomore and a freshman in the mix too.”

These players continuing to grow and make an impact will be critical as Coffee County looks to build on its 2025 season, in which it went 15-7 overall and 9-3 in Class 3A District 9 play to finish third in the district standings.

Despite a solid record, the Lady Raiders’ season came to an end in a five-set loss to Columbia Central in the district tournament semifinals, denying them the chance to compete in the region tournament.

The team hopes to go further into the postseason this year, but Spears emphasized that the path will not be easy if they do make it to the next round.

“We want to get first or second in the district in that tournament, so we can go on to Region, but we face a tough region,” Spears said. “The two teams that were in the state championship were teams from our region that we’ve got to play. Summit and Brentwood were both in the championship and that’s who we would have had to play in Region. It’s a tough battle to get out of the district, it’s an even tougher battle to get past Region.”

Coffee County begins its 2026 season on the road with a match at Grundy County on Monday. Start time is scheduled for 6 p.m.