“I think (coach Hale) is doing a good job making sure we stay humble and stay grateful and not take any match for granted,” Severson said. “Something he talks about a lot in practice is that being in a state championship is not a given.

“We have a lot of good teams in our region – a lot of good players and good teams in Columbus. So, we’ve got to just take it match to match because the state championship match is so far away. We can’t get too far ahead of ourselves. It’s a long season and a lot can happen.”

The Patriots will replace Sullenberger, a libero, who had 328 digs last season, with senior Austin Mallory.

Otherwise, senior outside hitters Caden Whiteside (407 kills, 54 aces, 143 digs) and Ryan Severson (99 digs, 54 kills, 25 aces) and senior middle hitters Jake Koch (232 kills, 94 blocks, 29 aces) and Jack Torson (167 kills, 62 blocks) are all back. Whiteside and Severson are six-rotation players.

Connor Severson has worked on becoming more physical at the net, both offensively and defensively.

“If there’s a ball tied up in the net … I know I can win a joust against whoever is on the other side of the net,” he said. “I know I can get blocks against the top hitters in the state. Using my offensive ability – maybe not in the swing – but dumping the ball over the net. I can use that a lot more and be able to get kills for us.”