CAMDEN — If it weren’t for Smyrna, Caesar Rodney High might have been the Downstate girls’ volleyball team that everyone was talking about last season.
The Riders’ 15-3 campaign didn’t end until they reached the DIAA state semifinals last fall.
It was just the second time that CR reached the state Final Four. And, of its three losses, two were to Smyrna, which became the first Henlopen Conference squad to capture the state title.
The Riders walked away from the season proud of what they accomplished.
“It was so much fun,” said senior middle hitter Reagan White. “It was a really cool experience to go play all the way up at UD and experience it with all my teammates.
“We got really far.”
CR coach Jake Bluhm hopes it was the kind of thing that makes his players want to perform at that level again this season.
But Bluhm also realizes that, with the number of starters that the Riders lost, it won’t be easy.
CR really only has White and fellow middle hitter Ava Brown returning as major contributors from last year’s team. The Riders open the season on Sept. 7 with a 1 p.m. match at Appoquinimink.
Bluhm, though, thinks there’s something to be said for the competition that comes with starting jobs being up for grabs.
“The floor is like a clean slate,” he said. “There’s going to be a lot of new players really fighting for spots out there on the court.
“If we want to continue to play at that level (as last year), players have to continue to keep pushing to get better. And I think they are. I think they’re hungry. Regardless of who you lose and who’s new, we’re always striving to play at the highest level possible.”
A season ago, White made first-team All-Henlopen North for CR.
The Riders have reached double digits in victories every year since 2016 (except for the shortened COVID season in 2020).
Brown said she and her teammates still have high expectations for the program even after losing a good senior class.
“I would love to make it just as far if not to the finals,” she said. “We have the same goals, the same focus — just get better every practice.”
Brown said people in the state may overlook CR at first because of the numbers of starters it graduated.
“But once they see us play in matches, maybe they’ll change their minds,” she said.
This has been an unprecedented couple seasons in Downstate girls’ volleyball.
Before Smyrna and CR broke through last year, three squads made the quarterfinals in ‘22.
That group was led by Delmarva Christian, which reached the semifinals.
Bluhm said having better programs in Kent and Sussex County can only help raise the level of competition for more teams.
“I’ve heard a lot of coaches talking about it — how Downstate is starting to get a little bit more recognition and it’s going to be more competitive for the foreseeable future,” he said.
“Now we don’t necessarily just have to travel north to play better teams. We’ll see better teams throughout the state. Once teams have a little success, they’re going to want to continue to get better.”
The Riders are hoping that idea applies to them.
After going a combined 27-8 over the last two seasons, they don’t want to take a step back now.
“We want to do that again and we want to go farther,” said White. “Our goal is obviously to win states this year.
“I feel like they learned a lot,” she said about CR’s new players. “They’ve all grown as they’ve come up. I would love to do it again.”
Notes
•The Riders play their first four matches of the season away but their last four at home.
•CR has five seniors on this year’s squad with seven juniors.
•Of the 22 players who made all-Henlopen North last season, 18 were seniors. In the Henlopen South, only 13 were seniors.
•CR and Smyrna square off on Sept. 17 with the Eagles hosting the Henlopen North showdown.
•Melissa Eddy, a first-team All-North player for the Riders last year, is continuing her career at Neumann University.
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