EVANSTON — Sports are a pretty big deal in the Jason and Brecia Hansen household. Jason serves as the activities director for Lyman High School and coaches the girls’ varsity basketball program. His wife, Brecia, coaches the Lady Eagles volleyball team. The couple has two daughters, the oldest a freshman. “We will both have the opportunity to coach her,” Brecia Hansen said of her and her husband, regarding their freshman daughter.

“I’m sure that will be interesting for her and an experience for all of us.”

Hansen is in her sixth season at the helm of the helm of Lady Eagles volleyball. Last year, her team finished third at state. This season, they are the number-one ranked team in Class 3A volleyball and they just so happened to have started the season with an unblemished 16-0 record. They won the Cokeville tournament to begin the season, were the only team to finish 7-0 in the Evanston “Border Wars” tournament and also defeated all comers in the Rawlins tournament en route to their thus-far perfect season.

Undefeated seasons rarely happen, though it wasn’t so long ago when Scott Ehlers guided a Lyman girls’ basketball team to an undefeated season and a state championship in 1995.

Hansen acknowledges the rarity of a miracle season but points out what she considers a loftier goal for her team.

“We never set out to start off without a loss and an undefeated season was never a team goal, but a state championship certainly is and that’s a goal we’ve set out sights on,” Hansen told the Herald.

“Plus, volleyball is all about momentum. In basketball, if you get out to a 20-point first-half lead, you’ve got some cushion. Rarely is there any cushion in volleyball,” the coach explained. 

“Winning a state championship is so difficult, no matter how good you are. A lot has to fall into place.”

Experience appears to be paying off for Lyman volleyball. Hansen has been the varsity coach since this year’s senior team members were in seventh-grade and Hansen has had the luxury of coaching her varsity team, for some since they were freshmen.

“We start all seniors,” Hansen declared.

“I’ve coached McKailey and McKinley (Bradshaw) since they were freshmen. Spring Jaggi and Olivia Smith have been here since their sophomore seasons and Kassidy Nelson and Kylie Walker since they were juniors, so we’ve got a great deal of experience in our line-up.”

Hansen herself was a three-sport athlete in high school,  competing in volleyball, basketball and track and field. She also played volleyball at the next level at the College of Idaho, where she began coaching club volleyball.

Hansen attributes some of her team’s success to club volleyball.

“In the spring we’ve played club volleyball, spending quite a bit of time in Utah, and that extends into summer. Some of our kids were juggling a couple of sports at the same time, like running track for the high school and playing club volleyball, too.”

The coach continued.

“They just really enjoy volleyball. They’re kids who really like each other and just love to play.”

Consistency is another factor in their formula for success.

“I think hearing the same language and volleyball vocabulary has also paid dividends. Consistency is huge for kids,” Hansen opined.

Hansen believes her team is handling the pressures of being top-ranked and undefeated very well. 

“We talked about that in practice. I told them, ‘We’re it. We’re the last undefeated team in the state,’” Hansen shared.

“But I see my kids responding to pressure much differently than they did last year. In moments of pressure last year, sometimes a little bit of a freak-out would take place. This season, they really keep it together. I don’t think that necessarily has anything to do with me as a coach. I just believe that they are older, experienced and more mature athletes. They know how to handle pressure situations.”

In fact, one team philosophy may be to embrace and thrive on pressure.

“I told our team something on the line of, ‘You have to open up your arms and hug that feeling of uncomfortableness. You have to get used to it, live with it and learn to perform in spite of it, when times get hard and uncomfortable.’”

Hansen said she and her team really enjoyed Evanston’s “Border Wars” tournament.

“That was awesome. It was an excellent tournament and I loved it,” Hansen said, citing the scheduling of teams from Utah to compete against as the primary factor. Hansen, like many coaches in Wyoming, relished the opportunity to play against high-caliber competition her squad would only see once on the season.

Hansen is also enjoying her team’s increasing depth from the tradition being built with Lyman volleyball.

“Our JV truly competes against us and they’re good. They really push us in practice and that helps immensely,” Hansen avowed.

Again, the team was undefeated heretofore, coming into a Thursday 3A West Conference showdown with the Lady Buffs in Mountain View.

“They’re very good and well-coached and that game seems like it has multiple matches — the tough match, the rivalry match, the conference match and the head-game match,” Hansen said of the rivalry matchup, with the schools some six miles apart from one another.

“That’s a game that comes with a lot of strings. It will be loud, hot, sweaty and uncomfortable. I hope our team  responds to it well.”

Of the season, again, the notion of an undefeated season does not provides much pressure or motivation, according to the coach.

“Our long-term goal has always been to win a state championship and if that means we have some losses along the way in achieving that goal, I’m just fine with that.”