Opening night on the court is here for local volleyball teams when the Keota Eagles host their annual tournament which features area schools Hillcrest Academy, Highland and Lone Tree.
The Ravens are coming off of their first 20-win season since 2013, ending last year at 20-11 and 5-3, third in the Southeast Iowa North Division. Hillcrest returns their top setter, Claire Withrow after 667 assists as a junior, most in the North. She had 52 aces, 182 digs and 34 kills. Withrow was an All-SEISC performer. Hillcrest will have to replace Superconference Co-Player of the Year Malia Yoder who led the team with 389 digs, 353 kills, 60 aces and a .303 kill efficiency. Her kills, efficiency and aces numbers led the league. The Ravens will also be without All-Conference selections Kylee Statler and Lydia Beachy, Statler led Hillcrest with 41 blocks. Other top returning numbers belong to All-Conferencer Niva Helmuth with 164 kills, a .170 kill efficiency, 193 digs and 23 blocks. The Ravens are under the direction of new head coach Tanna Boshart, who was an assistant on last year’s staff and previously served as head coach in 2019. The Ravens won this event a year ago.
The Highland Huskies start the season tonight. They were 17-13 last season, 6-2, runners-up in the Superconference North, their first winning season in the last eight. The Huskies will need to replace all of their stat leaders from last year including All-Conference seniors Adeline Krotz with 179 kills, 30 aces and 27 blocks, Laney Skelton with 449 assists and a .424 kill efficiency, and Lilly Barre with 396 digs. All of those numbers were top 10 in the Superconference. The leading returners include Hailey Brun with 180 digs and 148 kills, Emersyn Schultz with a .400 kill efficiency, Ava Sexton with 24 assists,Adisyn Prottsman with 22 aces and Brenna Hazelett with 16 blocks. Brun, Hazelett and Schultz were All-Conference a season ago. The Huskies have a new coach with Karlee Hugg, an assistant on last year’s club.
Lone Tree will also take the floor for the first time tonight. The Lady Lions were 8-18 a season ago, their most wins since 2016, 2-7 in the Superconference. Lone Tree has a pair of senior All-Conference performers in Cate Sexton and Hayden Yoder to replace. Sexton led with 86 kills and 55 blocks. Yoder had a team best 305 assists, .367 kill efficiency and 32 aces. Also departing was Alex Dautremont with a Lion leading 209 digs. Top returners are Alyson Ford with 49 kills, a .228 kill efficiency, and 48 blocks, Delanie Graap with 104 digs and 10 aces.
The Keota Eagles are the host school Monday. The Eagles were 4-15 in 2024 and winless in the South Iowa Cedar League. Keota has to replace senior stat leaders Kimberly Clarahan with 341 digs, Grace Conger with 231 assists and 36 aces, and Niveah Gutierrez with 86 kills. Clarahan was an All-Conference player. Cameron Haifley led the Eagles with a .111 kill efficiency as a freshman and Kennedy Jackson was best with 26 blocks as a junior. The Jackson and Haifley duo are also the leaders back in assists and kills, with Addy Purkeypile there in digs and Emily Conger in aces. The Eagles also have a new duo on the sidelines with co-head coaches Shannon Greiner and Jill Redlinger in their first year.
These four teams will be joined by Cedar Valley Christian and English Valleys. Action starts tonight at 4:30p.m. At Keota High School.