METAIRIE, La. – Country Day Volleyball has won a total of 13 state championships since the mid-1970s.
11 of those have come under the 14-year reign of Head Volleyball Coach, Julie Ibieta.
“I think that of all of the teams that we have had that have been successful, the kids are really the driving force where they have been great leaders, they buy into the program and I think the most important thing that has let us have so much success is all of our teams are truly worried about winning instead of individual accolades,” says Ibieta.
Country Day is coming off what could be considered its most dominant year under Ibieta.
Her team finished 48-2 last season, winning the program’s 4th consecutive Division V state title and the program’s tenth in the last 11 years.
“It was a great season. We had 7 seniors, they were all contributors, great leaders, but our underclassmen did a great job too. So, it was kind of one of those once every so often teams you get that are mature, that are great kids, it was just awesome,” added Ibieta.
“It was a good experience for a younger player considering that I was going to have to step up and be a leader in the following years. It was good to have some older, almost like siblings, show the way for us,” says Country Day Junior Nia Washington.
Reloading is the annual M.O. for Country Day Volleyball.
in 2020, the Cajuns return a veteran presence at the net and Junior All-State talent Nia Washington.
Coach Ibieta says, “She’s an incredible kid. She works hard, she’s athletic, a great player. She’s probably the most experienced of the bunch on the floor for us. We have a lot of height and athleticism in this group. We are returning Sophia Henderson and we are returning Ellie Schneider who are tall and play above the net. Where we need to improve or where we really need to figure out how to get us to the next level is a setter and defensive positions. So, that’s always fun to have that challenge to get those people to take the next step and then have the whole team go with them.”
Washington knows that the bar set by the 2020 senior class and their state title streak is high.
She doesn’t see it as added pressure to keep the title tradition alive but as a challenge.
Washington says, “it’s something that we challenge ourselves when we come in this gym, we put our work in because we have a target on our back. So, we work for it. We work for everything we accomplish.”
Right now, the biggest hurdle for Ibieta and the Cajuns is figuring out what the near future holds.
Ibieta’s tenure as Head Volleyball Coach began in the year Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and continues through a pandemic.
The one things she has learned during that time, to stay flexible in times of uncertainty.
Coach Ibieta says, “You never know what each season is going to bring, you have got to constantly adapt to what you have and what circumstances are thrown at you. You have injuries, pandemic, hurricane, you have got to stay nimble.”
