Williston Volleyball hasn’t always had a winning culture, but that might be changing.

Coming off their best finish in recent years last season, the Coyotes hope more progression lies ahead in the coming weeks.

The Williston Coyotes made the WDA volleyball tournament for the first time in five years in 2022, progress that’s been years in the making.

“I can see the improvement from my freshman year, watching our varsity team, watching even our team, I feel like the girls have bonded better and we’ve just worked together to improve,” Senior Outside Hitter Gracia Tong said.

At the forefront of the recent progress is second year head coach Cassidy Pryzbilla, who’s seen the team develop a strong grasp of the basics.

“We are now working hard at really executing those fundamentals, doing the small things and they really caught on to what that looks like and they’re really able to just play volleyball in a little bit more of a free spirit and they’re able to run plays that are really tough to run at this level right now,” Pryzbilla said.

At the core of the skill developement is a cultural focus on putting the team first.

“Coach has really brought energy to us this year. I feel like as a team, we’ve really came together as a family. For example, the back of our warmup shirts say family. This year has really brought us together as a team,” Senior Libero Abigail Elkins said.

“She’s really showed us how being good teammates and bonding together changes the whole game of volleyball. It makes us enjoyable and makes us talk better on the court it makes our setter-hitter connection, passer-setter connection. It makes everything better,” Tong said.

Williston is in position to make a return trip to the postseason, with each part of the lineup playing a part in the Coyote’s wins over Dickinson and Turtle Mountain in the last two weeks.

“Our back row is doing absolutely phenomenal right now. Making sure we can pass to our setters so that we can set up the ball and put it down. Maddy Collings is our outside hitter is really a big impact on our team and we really look forward to see what she can do next year too,” Elkins said.