BY RYAN O'CONNOR

Though her squad is on the rise, winning two of its first four contests after tallying three victories all last season, Central captain Courtney Cookson had to admit defending champ Salem made her and her teammates feel like a JV squad.

“(Against Salem), we played a lot faster than we do in normal games,” said the junior from Hooksett, whose home team lost on Monday, Sept. 17, 25-15, 25-7, and 25-13. “I feel like we’re good, but they’re much more talented, and it takes a lot of work and effort to get to where they are.”

Still, Cookson said playing against such a talented program – on the heals of an undefeated 2006, Salem is 7-0 this season and has gone 3-0 in each match – does nothing but motivate the Little Green to strive for greater things.

“We take so much from teams that are that good, and we take it and we turn it into optimism,” she said.

 Her coach, Ed True, in his seventh year, is excited about the direction of his program after several tough seasons.

“For awhile, we were getting some good girls, but without much of a volleyball past. Lately, we’ve been getting some players that are better athletes and who can really pick up the game a lot quicker,” he said.

Still, Manchester has little in terms of middle school volleyball to feed players to the high school, so True continues to largely rely on Hooksett student athletes, such as Cookson, to fill the roles of experienced leaders.

“You look at the other schools in the state that have feeder programs, and it makes a huge difference,” he said. “You’ve got girls that have been playing since fifth or sixth grade, versus somebody I get in ninth grade.”

Cookson began playing in sixth grade and now, in addition to competing in a national winter league, coaches Hooksett middle-schoolers. She said she takes recruiting for Central’s future very seriously.

“I’m always like, ‘Come play volleyball. Forget soccer,’” she said.

In addition, said True, the longer he coaches, the more he sees siblings follow in their older sisters’ footsteps to the high school volleyball court.

This year, he expects much of the program’s growth to come to fruition, adding that his team could easily be 4-2 instead of 2-4, if the Little Green knew how to handle a lead and finish games, something he said the girls will do.

A .500 record is not unrealistic, he added.

“I expect to make the playoffs … and actually do some damage in the playoffs,” said True. “We are very talented. We just need to find that niche, get our focus level up and take it to the next level.”