Volleyball: Post-Season Awards

It was a special year for area volleyball teams, both team-wise and individually. Mabel-Canton and Caledonia each made state. The Cougars were the SEC-East champions. Chatfield won the TRC. Fillmore Central was 1A runner-up. Grand Meadow and LeRoy-Ostrander shared the SEC-West. Spring Grove did not win anything per se, but went 22-7. Rushford-Peterson and Lanesboro both also finished above five-hundred. Additionally, M-C’s Kinley Soiney, Cal’s Logan Koepke, and FC’s Kammry Broadwater went over 1,000 career kills. Six girls had 350-plus kills on the season: Soiney (585), Koepke (489), Broadwater (415), L-O’s Benita Nolt (400), Chatfield’s Jaelyn LaPlante (378), and M-C’s Saijal Slafter (363). Five girls topped the 1,000-assist threshold, LeRoy-Ostrander’s Jenna Olson, Spring Grove’s Kendal VanMinsel, Chatfield’s Harper Goldsmith, Caledonia’s Emma Rommes and Fillmore Central’s Aubrey Daniels. M-C’s Sahara Morken went over 3,000 career assists. Morken (1,211) and Rommes (1,037) had over 1,000 assists this year alone. Three girls got to 1,000 career digs, FC’s Kyla Hellickson, Cal’s Koepke and M-C’s Morken. Five girls had 350 digs this season, Chatfield’s Cora Bicknese (505), FC’s Hellickson (458), Cal’s Emme Kittleson (385), Cal’s Aubrie Klug (365) and M-C’s Morken (373). Many of these players played a lot of matches, given the length of the seasons of state-bound M-C and Caledonia, section runner-up Fillmore Central. But there was a ton of good volleyball being played by area squads, as they boasted six All-State players.

All-Southeast Conference Awards 

Mabel-Canton (14-0, 36-3) and Spring Grove (12-2, 22-7) were the most dominant teams in the Southeast Conference, topping the East over Lanesboro (7-7, 14-10), Houston (4-10, 6-22), and Schaeffer Academy (0-14, 0-20). LeRoy-Ostrander (11-3, 19-11) and Grand Meadow (11-3, 14-13) dominated the conference’s West division over Southland (9-5, 16-8), Kingsland (5-9, 8-18), Glenville-Emmons (2-12, 6-20) and Lyle/Pacelli (2-12, 5-22).

The All-SEC volleyball team is thus headed by a lot of Cougars and Lions. Sahara Morken (5’5” junior setter), Kinley Soiney (5’10” sophomore MH), Saijal Slafter (5’8” junior MH) and Lydia Vatland (5’4” junior libero) make All-SEC for Mabel-Canton. Morken and Slafter each earn their third All-SEC nods, Soiney her second, while Vatland garners her first. For the second straight year, Morken is the SEC Player of the Year. For a third straight year, the deft setter notched over 1,000 assists in just one season (1,211), a remarkable feat. She neared breaking her own team single-season mark of 1,263 set last year. She topped 50 assists in a match four times including 60

twice. The junior also had a team-best 373 digs and 89 aces on 96.4% serving. Morken thus pulled off the rare setting feat of leading her team in assists, digs, and aces. She went over 3,000 career  assists, 1,000 digs and made All-State for a second year. She was also the only Cougar to make the All-Tourney team at state. Soiney had her second monster year as Morken’s best beneficiary. The sophomore ripped to a team-best 585 kills, or the most by any athlete ever covered by the Journal and the most in M-C history in a single-season It put her over 1,000 career kills as only a sophomore. Soiney has tallied 1,000 kills the past two seasons alone (441, 585). She had five matches of 20-plus kills and recorded double-digit kills in 36 of 39 matches while hitting .449. Playing all the way around, she also tallied 209 digs and a team second-best 61 aces. Slafter had a team second-best 363 kills. She topped 20 in a match three times. The junior should easily get to 1,000 kills as a senior. Playing back row, Slafter added 258 digs plus 60 aces on 93.5% serving. Vatland was third on the team with 269 digs and fourth on the team with 56 aces. Making All-SEC Honorable Mention for the Cougars is versatile Kailey Ingvalson (5’7” junior OH > 186 kills, team second-best 274 digs, 47 aces). Said girls helped M-C win another SEC-East title, a second straight 1A title, and take fourth place at state. Spring Grove (22-7) enjoyed a third consecutive season with at least 20 wins and at 12-2, finished as East Division runner-up also for a third straight year and for the seventh time in the last nine seasons. Again, for a third straight time, the Lions received the No. 4 section seed, this year behind three state-ranked teams. Five of the seven setbacks came against state-ranked competition. Kendal VanMinsel (5’11” junior setter) repeats as All-SEC with 661 set assists (8.4 per set) this season and 1,499 career assists with a senior campaign remaining. She scored with 97 kills too, was second on the team with 58 service aces and third with 21 total blocks. Joelle Halverson (5’9” junior OH), the Lion MVP, led her team with 93.4 serving percentage, 11 solo blocks, 25 total blocks and 28% hitting efficiency and the second-most 199 kills. Jordis Neeley (5’10” junior OH) had team-highs with 259 kills (3.2 per set) and 76 service aces and was second with 23 total blocks and 23.6% hitting efficiency while ranking third with 160 digs. Sydney Holland (5’5” junior libero), who moved up after receiving Honorable Mention the previous season, led the Lions with 248 digs (3.1 per set) plus the second-best serving percentage (92.1%) and third-most 50 service aces. Despite playing exclusively in the back row, Holland had the second-most 59 assists. Receiving Honorable Mention was Katelyn Kraus (5’10” senior MB > 61 kills, 21 total blocks, Academic All-State). LeRoy-Ostrander tied for the division crown in the SEC-West. Lindsay Milks’ group nearly got to 20 wins, going 19-

11. The Cardinals get a West high three All-SEC picks in Benita Nolt (5’11” Jr. MH), Jenna Olson (5’5” Sr. setter), and Brooke Jasper (5’7” Jr. OH). Nolt and Olson each repeat while Jasper moved up from All-SEC HM last year. The Olson to Nolt connection was money for the Cardinals. Nolt ripped to 400 kills on .273 hitting. She had six games of 20-plus kills. With a good senior year, she should top 1,000 career kills. Playing all the way around, Nolt added a team second-best 251 digs and a team-best 61 total blocks. Olson posted a very strong 747 assists, allowing her to surpass 1,000 for her career early in the season. She wound up with 1,522 career assists. Olson added 160 digs defensively. Jasper had a team second-best 173 kills and a team-best 313 digs. Making All-SEC HM for L-O is Kaci McKenzie (5’8” Jr. MB > 140 kills, team best 57 aces on 91.8% serving). Rival Grand Meadow got two pure All-SEC picks in Lauren Queensland (5’10” Jr. OH) and Lexy Foster (5’11” Sr. MH). Queensland repeated as All-SEC. Queensland was the Larks’ best all-around player, tallying a team second-best 153 kills and team second-best 269 digs. She was their top server at 98.5%, missing just thrice (198 of 201) all season. Foster had a team-best 174 kills and 29 total blocks. She added 32 ace serves. Making All-SEC HM for GM is Haylie Paul (5’10” Jr. MB > 142 kills, team-best 46 aces). Said girls helped the Larks to another title (shared) in the SEC-West. Lanesboro has just a sole All-SEC pick in Jensyn Storhoff (5’6” So. OH). Ellie Anderson (5’9” Sr. RS/OH) made All-SEC HM. Kingsland has just a sole All-SEC pick in Morgan Phillips (5’8” Sr. MB). She led the Knights with 180 kills, 71 ½ total blocks, and 52 aces while chipping in 138 digs. Making All-SEC HM for the Knights is Kaylin Mensink (5’5” Sr. setter/RS > 57 kills, team-best 223 assists, team third-best 180 digs). Making All-SEC for Houston in Emily Botcher (5’10” Jr. setter/RS). She led the Hurricanes with 231 assists and 54 aces (174 of 190 serving, 92.6%) while finishing second with 141 kills and 159 digs. Making All-SEC HM for Houston is Avery Kingsley (5’6” So. OH > team-best 145 kills, 90 digs).

*Three Rivers Conference stats compiled by Bill Bentson.