When the Taylor volleyball team hosted Madeira on Tuesday, Sept. 10, a match less than one month into the season was abuzz with Cincinnati Hills League title implications.

A three-set victory by the Yellowjackets removed all doubt that they are serious about going back-to-back in the league.

"We had goals going into the season, and knew the talent we had coming back and knew what we had coming up from our middle school," head coach Chelsea Miller said.

Taylor is rewriting the league record books. The Yellowjackets ended Wyoming's 13-year title streak by winning their first outright title since 1993 last year. At 10-0, they are off to their best start since 2008. This team is even more dominant than last year; they have not dropped any of their 28 sets thus far.

Taylor boasts a complete roster from top to bottom

Seven seniors have watched Taylor compete in the CHL since they attended Three Rivers Elementary. It wasn't that hard since the elementary school, middle school and high school are all on the same property in Cleves.

The Yellowjackets have finished in the top half of the league every year since 2014 and were runners-up in 2020 and 2021. Clinching the league title against Madeira on Oct. 5, 2023 was a moment they had been looking forward to for a long time.

"It's really encouraging because sophomore year, we had a young team, so to be that good last year was insane," senior Mia Kantz said.

Just as the seniors were welcomed into the program by those who came before them, they have helped sophomores Audrey Benkert, Kylie Stutzman and Madalyn Trimpe, and freshmen Lizzy Hilvert and Emmy Wilhelm seamlessly enter the rotation.


 

"All the players really helped me be comfortable, and I feel life that really helped me to be able to be comfortable in my setting and be more consistent," Stutzman said.

Stutzman is a true six-rotation player who already has 737 assists, 248 digs and 169 kills in her career. Benkert and Wilhelm have combined for 73 kills, 21 blocks and 21 digs this year.

"We could see them in seventh and eighth grade and kind of knew what was coming up and what roles we saw them taking," Miller said.

Miller and the coaching staff have complete trust in every team member. In timeouts, the coaches offer their observations while allowing the players to make their own adjustments.

"We have different kinds of leadership with them, too. Some of them are more on-the-court leaders, some of them are off-the-court leaders, so I think having every facet of that covered is helping our team," Miller said.

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