The Seneca Royals Volleyball team has had a busy couple of weeks to start the 2026 season.

The team had their home opener on September 1st against the Wauzeka-Steuben Hornets. The Royals issued a strong statement from the beginning of the match by winning set one 25-13. It was much of the same in sets two and three with strong serving and strong offense as the Royals won sets two and three with the same score of 25-12 in both sets to earn the match sweep.

The offense was working very well for the Royals and Seneca was able to produce 39 kills in the win, with Anne Manning helping out on 29 of those kills. Addison Davidson recorded 39 assists on the night and Emma Manning recorded 14 digs.

The Seneca Royals Volleyball team entered their first full week of the 2026 season last week with a pair of conference matches and the 42nd annual Seneca Classic.

The week began last Tuesday, Sept. 8 when the Royals welcomed the Ithaca Bulldogs to town. Seneca earned a 3-0 match victory with set wins of 25-10, 25-19 and 25-13.

The Royals serving game was very strong and recorded 14 aces as a team on the night. A. Manning recorded 12 kills and Sophie Clark added four. Davidson recorded 22 assists on the night and E. Manning recorded 19 digs followed by Lily Payne with 13 and Davidson with 12.

Two nights later the Royals were on the road at Cazenovia to face the Weston Silver Eagles and the visiting Royals came away with their third sweep of the season with set wins of 25-7, 25-5 and 25-12.

The Royals recorded 17 aces on the night with Payne recording six. Payne also led the offense with nine kills followed by A. Manning with seven and Rita Sime with five. Davidson controlled the offense with 24 assists. Strong defense from E. Manning with 12 digs and Payne with 10. The Royals moved to 3-0 in conference play with the win.

The Royals ended the week this past Saturday, Sept. 12 by hosting their annual Seneca Classic volleyball tournament which also included Westby, MFL MarMac, Boscobel, Cassville, Coulee Christian/Providence Academy. Juda and North Crawford.

Seneca went 3-1 on the day, picking up sweeps of MFL MarMac (25-16, 25-23), Cassville (25-10, 25-11) and Boscobel (25-12, 25-17). The Royals lone defeat came at the hands of tournament champion Westby in three hard fought sets. Seneca won set one 29-27 before Westby rallied to win the next two sets 28-26 and 15-9 to win the match and the tournament championship.

Seneca (6-1 overall, 3-0 in the Ridge & Valley Conference) traveled to Kickapoo High School last night to face La Farge/Youth Initiative and Kickapoo in a conference doubleheader before ending the week by hosting North Crawford tomorrow night and traveling to Iowa-Grant High School this Saturday, Sept. 19 for the Iowa-Grant Tournament starting at 8:30 a.m.