As far as continuity goes, the Ellensburg volleyball team is quite the model program:

-- When a legendary coach retired, an assistant was promoted and the success continued.

-- After an all-state, conference player of the year and another all-leaguer graduated to play Division I volleyball, younger players stepped up into new and bigger roles.

The Bulldogs, ranked third in the coaches poll, again sit atop the CWAC standings. They’re looking to sweep through the conference season unbeaten for the fourth straight season.

It’s a streak that has been nurtured for several years.

“A part of that is the investment of the families and our community – I can’t undersell that,” Stueckle said. “It’s kind of a grassroots program.”

Stueckle is in his sixth season guiding Ellensburg, having replaced Debbie Landrie, who retired following five straight conference titles, with two of those seasons capped by a second-place finish at state.

He established himself as a head coach in 10-plus seasons at Thorp, and has been key to the club volleyball scene in the Kittitas Valley.

“A lot of these kids who are now seniors, I coached them when they were 11 or 12,” he said.

Those seven seniors are helping to fill the gaps left by the graduation of the class before them, also seven in total, that helped earn a pair of top-five trophies.

It’s not as a dominating of style, which is understandable with last year’s top hitters – Alana Marrs starting at Oregon State and Hazel Murphy seeing time at Gonzaga – playing D-I. Yet it’s still piling up the victories.

“We really turned over almost the entire roster,” Stueckle said. “You don’t replace players like that, and the vision for this season was to be more efficient. We wanted to play better defense, play better rallies.”

Stueckle also has tested his players, constructing a schedule with Ellensburg athletic director Cole Kanyer that would challenge any program.

The Bulldogs pushed three-time 1A defending champion Chelan to five sets, won at perennial 2A contender Burlington-Edison, competed well in the rugged SunDome Volleyball Festival and beat 4A state hopeful Davis.

On Thursday, when Ellensburg has the bye in CWAC play, a trip to Wenatchee is on tap.

“We do that on purpose, we want to schedule tough,” Stueckle said. “I don’t mind losing against tough teams if it’s going to make us better.”

Joely Tornow, a 6-foot-1 senior hitter, was third on the team in points last year, but has taken over the top spot this season. Fellow seniors and hitters Lydia Simmons and Andi Musser also have been key cogs in the offense.

Hadley Potts, a 6-foot-2 junior, has improved over the season, and setters Sarah Stueckle, a senior, and Ava Stueckle, a junior, feed the hitters.

“Those are the ones who are going to carry us,” Coach Stueckle said.

Ellensburg will host its Senior Night on Tuesday when East Valley comes down. A week after that, the Bulldogs travel to sixth-ranked Selah in a match that will likely decide the CWAC regular-season title.

ON THE ROAD TO CONFERENCE TITLES: While CWAC teams play each other once toward the conference championship, the CBBN and SCAC play each other in league matches. Wenatchee enters Tuesday play with a 7-0 record, having twice beaten second-place Davis. The Panthers, who won the 2023 state championship and were third a year ago, are trying for a third straight unbeaten through conference play. … In the SCAC, Cashmere hasn’t lost in conference play since joining the league last year. The Bulldogs are 12-0, four wins away from repeating the 16-0 conference mark of a year ago. Cashmere followed the conference season by placing fifth at the state tournament, the program’s first state trophy.

STATE STAYS THE SAME: Next month’s state volleyball tournament in the Yakima Valley SunDome will follow the same format of the past two events, with two classes going over two days with no overlap with another classification. Class 2B and 1B will go Wednesday, Nov. 12 and Thursday, Nov. 13, with 2A and 1A following Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15. State will culminate with 4A and 3A the following week, Friday, Nov. 21 and Saturday, Nov. 22.