Mehlville Panthers head girls volleyball coach Tom O’Toole has coached volleyball for 15 years, going on four at Mehlville.

Following a 7-18-1 finish in the 2025 season, O’Toole says the Panthers are more experienced and confident entering the new season.

“Now that we’ve got some people with a year or two years under their belt on varsity, the hope is that some of those four set games become wins,” he said. “Six, seven, eight wins — that’s going to be the number we circle on the board and we’ll try to get there and go past it.”

With a team of 12 athletes, O’Toole says the sophomores and juniors will be at the core.

“Last year, we were pretty young, relying a lot on freshmen and sophomores, so a lot of the main skilled positions are now sophomores and juniors,” he said.

Junior Maggie Bailey is an outside hitter and was named All-Conference honorable mention. She ended the 2025 season with 163 kills, 232 digs and 42 serving aces.

Setter Karleigh Stover, a sophomore, was also named All-Conference honorable mention. She ended the 2025 season with 133 kills, 219 total assists with 2.9 assists per set and 42 serving aces as well.

Stover and Ellie Brobbel act as each other’s counterpart on the team as Brobbel is also a sophomore setter in the same position. She ended the 2025 season with 66 kills, 245 total assists with 3.6 assists per set and 33 serving aces.

There are only four seniors on the team, but they have played an integral role in the team’s improving record over the years.

“Kylee Trtan, Lona Floyd, Lexi Timmerman and Abby Kline have been in the program since I’ve been there. They’re all contributing players,” O’Toole said. “They’re extremely good kids, good leaders, and they have definitely been a part of (the team doing better) from the beginning.”

The Panthers will open their season on Aug. 28 at Mary Institute and Saint Louis Country Day School (MICDS) with tournament matches against Nerinx Hall High School, Ladue Horton Watkins High School and Clayton High School.