Century Volleyball hopes to continue their championship streak

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFYR) - Century played in the volleyball state championship last fall. It was the 12th consecutive season the Patriots have done that. It’s by far the longest streak in Class-A history. Going into the final year of a two-class system, the Patriots may be the favorite once again.

The title game was the first five-setter in a championship match since 2017, and only 2nd-time in the past decade. This year’s Century team is one of the most youthful groups Jamie Zastoupil, Century head coach, has had in a while, but she likes where the girls have come from while working their way through the program.

“It’s so cool even to see from our middle school at Horizon. He does a great job there getting kids out, and I think there’s such a strength in numbers. I think our freshman and sophomore coaches do so much fundamentally to get kids better and compete every in practice. It’s just really fun to see where they get. Just program-wide how they support each other,” said Zastoupil.

With a support system like that, the players are naturally close, and they all understand what hard work looks like.

“I think we’re just very hungry. We want to win, we want to work every day in practice. So it’s nice that every single drill, every single game we do it’s competitive between JV and varsity. It just helps us bring it over into a game,” said Erika Lee, Century senior.

“Having a relationship with your teammates obviously makes it way more enjoyable, and seeing those girls outside of school it’s just so fun. Then you get to play with them on the court. Obviously, it helps us build our chemistry and you can see that on the court that we just love each other, and we have fun doing it,” said Eden Fridley, Century senior.

Century has yet to lose a set in a conference match so far this fall. The Patriots play at Jamestown Tuesday night. The Blue Jays are tied for 2nd place in the WDA.

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