— When talking about Okay Lady Mustangs volleyball, one must start with Bristen Graves.

“If she makes mistakes, she works hard to try to correct them,” said Okay coach Belinda Clark. “That’s the kind of thing you want in an athlete. She hits the ball hard and motivates the other girls on the team to do the same.”

Graves will once again anchor an offense that helped her to two straight All-Phoenix Most Valuable Player selections. The senior outside hitter finished 2011 with 185 kills, 68 digs and 26 aces as the Lady Mustangs ended  the season with a 32-5 record after a state quarterfinal loss to Big Pasture and a No. 3 ranking in the final Class 4A Okrankings.com poll.

Feeding the ball to Graves will be senior setter and All-Phoenix selection Brooke Long.

“Brooke is a pretty important person on the floor,” Graves said. “She touches the ball on every offensive play and is responsible for passing it to our hitters.”

The Lady Mustangs do have two holes to fill with the graduation of middle blocker Miesha Gordon and outside hitter Taryn Jimison who finished with 108 and 88 kills, respectively.

“The new players coming in are a little nervous,” Graves said. “They just need to keep their heads up and believe in themselves. If they do that, they’ll be fine.”

Graves will not be one to rest on her laurels. She is using her playoff run last season to better prepare herself for the upcoming grind.

“I’m practicing harder,” Graves said. “Last year at state was so nerve-wracking.”

If Graves can pass along one valuable lesson she learned last season, it is relax.

“You’re kind of afraid to mess up,” she said. “If we get to state again this year, we’ll be much better prepared.”

The Tahlequah Lady Tigers have a chance to get state with the most experience coming back from a team that finished 25-12, losing to Victory Christian in Class 5A regional finals. It was that loss that has coach Don Ogden’s squad hungry for more.

“We know that to advance to state, the odds are better if you host a regional,” Ogden said. “Obviously, we want to win our conference but another goal is to host a regional. When we went state in 2009, it’s the first and only time we hosted the regional.”

With five starters returning from last season’s team, Ogden anticipates a very good season.

Seniors Morgan Anderson and All-Phoenix selection Casey Beaston will plug the middle and provide leadership. Both are three-year starters.

“We should have a very good year,” Ogden said. “With Morgan and Casey, we have an opportunity to be very strong up the middle.”

Senior Tori Worth will be on the right side of the offense along with junior Gillian Tinnin and sophomore Cassie Goodnight, putting Ogden’s mind at ease for attacking the wings.

“They’ve played club ball over the winter against top competition,” he said. “They’ve greatly improved, so we feel we’re going to have a nice offensive team.”

The responsibility for passing the ball to the attackers goes to junior Kalie Champlain and sophomore Katie Schneider.

“We’ll run a 6-2 offense a lot,” Ogden said. “That means we’ll have two setters rotate through and we have two good setters.”

The Tigers looked to improve their defense by traveling to the University of Arkansas team camp and had coaches work on it. Splitting time on the defense will be seniors Allie Eakes and Karsten Heist and sophomore Sara Sheifelbein.

“Between those three, we’re going to count on them to be our defensive specialists,” Ogden said. “If we can get our defense up to the level of our offense, we’ll be tough to beat.”

With youth comes exuberance and this year’s version of the Muskogee Lady Roughers volleyball team will be very youthful.

Only one senior returns from last year’s starting lineup while several members from last season’s freshman team that posted a 22-0 record including Claire Farmer, a freshman this season that played on the freshman team as an eighth grader.

“Claire is definitely our most talented offensive player,” Muskogee coach John Hammer said. “Most of our offense will go through her. She was on the club team we took to nationals and has faced the older competition.”

Outside hitter Karsten Fleak is the lone senior from last year’s team that finished at 15-18 with a 3-0 loss to Tulsa Union in the first round of regional play.

“She’s been doing a great job this summer,” Hammer said. “She’s really come in with the mindset that she wants to have a great year and she wants to do what she needs to do to help us be successful.”

Hammer sees the potential for this year’s team to have success.

“We’re going to get better each time we step on the floor,” he said. “We’re talented and fun to watch. We’re putting in a new offense. It’s going to take time and we’ll be a work in progress.”

Holding down the setter position is sophomore Jensen Martin, a starter last season. The libero position is still up in the air.

“The libero is going to be either a junior or sophomore,” Hammer said. “There is still a battle for that spot.”

The one question mark for the Lady Roughers is at middle blocker with the departure of both from last year’s squad, one moving and the other, Alexus Wilson, deciding to concentrate on basketball. Karla Jones, a sophomore, and Leigh Westbrook, a freshman, are the two players that Hammer is looking at to fill in that spot.

“They’re doing a great job so far,” Hammer said. “They’re just inexperienced.”

Hammer is optimistic about Muskogee’s future, but he’s also realistic that it will take time.

“I’m not gonna make any predictions about wins or losses this year,” he said. “The kids are working their tails off and they really want to be good and move to the next level of the elite teams.”

Wagoner coach Judy Penner looks to continue the upswing in the Lady Bulldogs’ success, having guided them to their best season since the mid-1970s.

The Lady Bulldogs finished 2011 with a 16-5 record and ended the campaign after a first-round loss to Tulsa Washington in the 5A regionals.

This season will be one of reloading as the Lady Bulldogs lost seven players to graduation. Wagoner’s junior varsity posted an 11-1 record and has Penner’s hopes on the high side.

“While we lost five starters, but we’ll be OK,” Penner, the Phoenix Coach of the Year, said. “Based on our last scrimmage, we have great potential.”

Returning for the Lady Bulldogs will be senior hitter Natalie Masten who will look to carry the offensive load.

“She runs the court,” Penner said. “She will be the coach on the floor. She plays club ball and understands the game.”

The responsibility for passing the ball to the hitters will be junior setter Skylar Bruce while Bailey Thomas and Arielle Stevenson will run the front along with Masten.

“We won our conference with an 11-0 record,” Penner said. “The girls want to win conference again and that is what has them hungry.”