The Nicholls State volleyball team has already matched last year’s win total at 14 only 18 games into the season.

After starting the season 1-3, the Colonels went on a 13-game win streak that ended last Saturday when they dropped three sets against Southland foe, Lamar. Head coach TeAna Tramel credits the Colonels’ success to the hard work and knowledge of a system that was implemented one year ago.

“I think our team has been able to take a foundation that we worked on last spring and translate it over to the fall,” Tramel said. “They know the system now. They’re confident in the system, and now we’re able to go out and execute it.”

Tramel is entering her second year as head coach and said that the girls have confidence in what they are doing, and more importantly, they act as a family. Tramel said that the returning players brought back a “swagger” to the team and are more vocal, while the “fresh meat” added to the team brought enthusiasm to the team, which helped the team bond. She said this also contributed to the team’s early success.

“They were happy in some regards from last season, but they came in with the attitude of ‘we want to get better,’ ” Tramel said. “The returners are just tired of being taken for granted and not really getting the respect that they deserve for all the hard work that they put in. This is their senior year for some of them, and they’re finally getting the respect that they should have had in the beginning.”

Through 18 games, the Colonels are second in the Southland Conference in hitting percentage, blocks and service aces. Junior middle blocker Sarah Terry leads the conference in hitting percentage, and junior outside hitter Jennifer Brandt is third in conference in service aces.

So far this season, the Colonels have the best overall record in conference, but are third in the Southland East with a 1-1 conference record. Tramel said she is not ready to say the Colonels are the team to beat in conference just yet.

“We’re definitely not the team to beat in conference,” Tramel said. “For us, our mentality is everybody is 0-0. Our conference is so tough, day in and day out. Teams that at the top of our conference have been beat, and teams at the bottom of our conference have won. We’re preparing for every game as if it’s the national title game.”

Tramel said that she is proud of her team, and they are “true Colonel athletes.”

“These girls have worked extremely hard,” Tramel said. “I put them through a lot this spring and this fall, and they deserve some recognition because they’ve accomplished a lot. We’re having a great season, and it’s attributed to the 15 players that we have.”