Proven winner to lead Joplin volleyball
· Yahoo Sports
Having not logged a winning season since 2021, Joplin High School volleyball has turned to a proven winner to lead it for the 2026 season.
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Head coach Delice Downing will look to turn the squad around in her first year at the helm of the program. The Eagles finished 5-26-1 last season.
Downing is a former collegiate coach who captured back-to-back NJCAA national titles for the Coffeyville Community College Ravens in 2017 and 2018. She also was an NJCAA National Coach of the Year and was named Conference and District Coach of the Year multiple times.
After Coffeyville, Downing surpassed the 500-win mark in her career while coaching at Hutchinson Community College. Last year, she coached at Hesston High School in Kansas, where in her first season she led the team to the Kansas 3A state tournament, where they finished fifth.
“I thought I was ready to let coaching go because my daughter (sophomore Aah’Lice Jackson) is at the age where I want to watch her more, but this opportunity came and I now have the opportunity to coach my daughter,” Downing said.
She also talked about what drew her to the Joplin High School job.
“I love a challenge,” Downing said. “I know that God blesses and puts you in situations and places for certain reasons. I’ve been able to see the campus and meet the girls. There is some talent here. It’s going to take some grooming and some nurturing, but in our first summer here, we’ve already won a couple of team camp tournaments.”
She talked about her time with the team so far.
“Getting these girls to understand what it takes to win and to taste winning has been fun,” she said. “My daughter is one of those dogs — one of those dogs you have that play from the heart and go hard at all times. I think it’s starting to grow on some of these other girls. They are all wanting to know what it feels like to win. I love the fight they are putting in and the grit they’ve shown this summer.”
Downing is also looking toward the future of Joplin High School volleyball and is starting the Joplin Eagles Volleyball Club for children ages 10 to 13, with tryouts in November.
“I need to get girls to start falling in love with volleyball, just as much as they do with softball,” Downing said. “This is a great sport to go to college in and do something with.”
Downing also talked about her approach to coaching the Eagles players.
“We’ve got some size, we’ve got some athleticism and some great hands,” Downing said. “We’ve just got to work on putting it all together and getting their IQ up. Volleyball is 80% mental. So my goal is to train them, train their IQ and their fundamentals so that we are the strongest serving and passing team in the conference.
“Know that there will be no other team that’s going to work harder, or outhustle the Eagles this year,” Downing said. “We may not be the biggest, but we’re going to be the scrappiest and be the ones that go for everything — a nothing-hits-the-floor type of team. Just watch out. Here we come. Believe me, I know it’s going to be a struggle. We’re not going to jump out and go 10-0. But when we hit our peak, I think we are going to be one of those teams that everyone will be talking about."
Joplin opens its season with a tough opponent in Nevada, which finished 27-7-2 last season and was the Class 3 District 13 champ. That match will be on Sept. 3 at Nevada High School.