Nov. 7, the Lafayette girl’s volleyball team took down Lee’s Summit North, 3-1, to cap off a near perfect season crowning them State champions for the fourth year in a row. 

“It’s awesome because even though I already have two others, and obviously the third one is great, for me [a four-peat] has only happened a couple of times in school history, so it’s cool being a part of the legacy,” junior outside hitter Shaye Witherspoon said. 

Despite coming off a three-peat, an early season poll had the Lancers ranked outside of the top ten, giving the team an underdog mentality, according to Fox2Now. 

“It actually drove the team to play with a little more grit and show [everyone] what we had,” Coach Zach Young said. “We only had two returning starters, but we had a lot of returning kids who didn’t play as much [last season].” 

Even with few returning starters, Lafayette dominated all season, winning 40 games and only having one loss to Lee’s Summit West, during the MOKAN tournament, Sept. 20. 

By the end of the season, Max Preps had the team ranked number one in Missouri and number 21 nationally. 

“I think the main reason for the team’s success was that we were all able to come together and have the same goal and work hard every day in order to achieve that goal,” junior middle blocker Peyton Dolly said. 

The lack of returning starters didn’t affect the team, as they actually improved their record from last year, going from 32-5 to 40-1. 

“Coming into this year we knew it would be a challenge with losing most of our starters but everyone was ready to step up and fill in their roles,” Dolly said. 

WIth the win over Lee’s Summit North at state, Young has now won nine state championships in just 14 years of coaching the team. He credits his coaching staff as one reason for the sustained dominance. 

“Number one, you have to have good players. Number two, [you need] just a really good consistent coaching staff, and I have some of the best assistant coaches around, “ Young said. “But I think most importantly is culture, and that starts with the players and it starts with the seniors every year.” 

Young also believes the seniors of the team play a huge role in setting the culture of the team, which they then pass on to the juniors once they graduate, who then do the same,  creating a cycle and reinforcing the culture. 

“We are laughing all the time, and also put together. I feel like that’s the legacy of Lafayette volleyball, so I think we just try and keep that up,” Witherspoon said. “I think part of the culture is also just being there for each other and being friends first and teammates later.” 

A key player on the team, Witherspoon led the team in kills, with 636 this season, according to STL High School Sports. 

“It was great because I’m trying to beat my sister’s record, she has 1,446 kills, which is also the school record,” Witherspoon said. “I have 1336 kills right now, so I am getting super close.” 

This was the first time in Shaye’s high school career that she has played without her sister, Class of 2025 alum, Maya Witherspoon. 

According to Shaye, she felt as the last two years she learned a lot from Maya, and this year, she used that knowledge to help the team succeed. 

Following in her sister’s footsteps, who plays volleyball at Vanderbilt University, Shaye has committed to play Division I at the University of Nebraska.

“I’m really excited to play for Nebraska because it’s the number one team in the country, which is super awesome,” Shaye said. “I think Coach Young will push me out harder next year because he knows I’m going to play at the highest  level.” 

If the team manages to win State next year, it would be the second time in Lafayette history that the volleyball team achieves a 5-peat. 

“It’s crazy to even think about. But every year is a new year and every team is different; even if you have a lot of returners, one or two new pieces make an entirely different team,” Young said.