by Samuel Abbas | staff writer

After serving in 3 coaching positions at 2 different schools, volleyball coach Nicole Blakeman celebrated her 500th win.  This special milestone happened when the Jags claimed victory over Magnolia with a score of in the first set 25-18 and 25-17 in the second.

“The win itself wasn’t really that good[of a game], but the fact that it was 500 made it special,”Blakeman said.“…I was aware of the 500th win but I didn’t know the team was going to make such a big deal out of it,”

Though Blakeman wasn’t expecting much, milestones like this call for a celebration. The team celebrated her win with special shirts to show the amount of wins she has earned over the course of her career.

“We made some shirts that say 500 and we are really excited for her,” Kylie Rittimann said.

Although Blakeman has had much success over her coaching career, things weren’t always this easy.

“It was tough, starting a program and building it [from the ground up] into one of the better programs in the city,” Blakeman said.

Following the 500th win, Johnson volleyball is in store for a season that will be full of excitement, because of all of the talent volleyball has.

“I think we have a lot of talent, like the people on the bench are good, there’s a lot of talent and everybody gets to play,” Rittimann said.