Hot Takes, Bold Predictions, Breakout Players for Iowa HSVB 2023

The Iowa high school season is here!  Practice is in full throttle and scrimmages and tournaments will be starting in the next couple of weeks.  I have some hot takes, predictions of what could happen come early November, as well as some players who could have a monster season - some you may not know just yet.     A Sioux City school can make it to state (That's not Heelan).  Sioux City Heelan has years of tradition, they don't wear “PRIDE” on a lot of their gear for nothing.  However, Sioux City North and Sioux City East are building a lot of momentum.  North has a really talented squad with an up and coming sophomore with [player_tooltip player_id='389834' first='Ava' last='Lloyd'].  East has all of their top attackers back and will have a lot of depth.  [player_tooltip player_id='215439' first='Hollie' last='Peterson'] is a 2025 to know who can set and swing.  The MRC is going to be a battle this year!     Is it the Dike-New Hartford redemption tour?  Everyone knows Dike.  And now everyone at the Wisconsin team camp knows Dike who won the Badger Team Camp against top programs out of Wisconsin, Omaha, and Chicago.  This will be the final swan song for Jaydn Petersen, [player_tooltip player_id='168149' first='Payton' last='Petersen'], and [player_tooltip player_id='251662' first='Maryn' last='Bixby'] who have filled the trophy cases with plenty of volleyball and basketball hardware.  They suffered a heartbreaking loss to Western Christian in the Class 2A Championship and will look to reclaim the title.    Speaking of Western Christian, they are in Class 3A? I had to do a double take.  According to the BEDS Document from the IGHSAU with enrollment, here is the breakdown:    5A - Largest 40    4A - Next 48   3A - Next 64    2A - Next 80    1A - Remaining   Where is Western Christian? Number 152 which means they would be the smallest 3A school in the field.  They are the defending Class 2A state champions. This also means their road to Xtream might look a little different where they are now with MOC-Floyd Valley, away from Unity Christian.  Typically they would now be with Sioux Center, but even the Class 3A runner up has moved up a class.    Who is on the border of being in different classes? We have Western as the smallest in Class 3A which is a big change as they have always been in Class 2A in the five class system.  Sioux Center has bumped up to Class 4A after being in Class 3A.  Sioux City Heelan is one of the smallest 4A schools, Indianola is the largest Class 4A where they will be a heavy favorite to be a final four team and beyond. Class 3A qualifier Carroll-Kuemper is down in Class 2A.     How does the Des Moines Metro get split in Class 5A come regional play? I see Ankeny, Ankeny Centennial, Johnston, Waukee NW, Dowling, and Valley being the top teams out of Central Iowa.  If this remains the case they will be hosting regional finals.  What teams from Council Bluffs, Sioux City, Cedar Falls, Cedar Rapids/Iowa City, and the Quad Cities have to travel to Central Iowa for a chance to get to the state tournament.    The MVC is a wide open race!  In years past its been the likes of Liberty, Xavier, Western Dubuque, and Cedar Falls which these teams will definitely be in the mix again, but the champion of this conference might have a couple losses along the way.  Iowa City High is going to be much improved, so will Linn-Mar.  There's not an off night in this conference.    What new teams will be making a state tournament push?  Two that come to mind real quick are Mid-Prairie and Iowa City Regina.  Mid Prairie made it to the regional final before falling to Davenport Assumption.  The standard is just different for this program now.  Same for Iowa City Regina.  They have a really talented sophomore class, led by all around outside [player_tooltip player_id='261094' first='Reese' last='Naeve'] who can do it all.  These teams have pieces to make a late October run.    Will Ankeny Christian do it again? And again? Ankeny Christian had quite the storybook ending to their season being down a match point in the Class 1A state title to eventually coming back and winning the whole team. Their incoming Junior class is special led by the likes of [player_tooltip player_id='215463' first='Carley' last='Craighead'] and [player_tooltip player_id='215462' first='Katie' last='Quick']. They have been key catalyst in the rise of this program and will look to do it once again in 2023.   Final Four and Cinderella Squads   Class 5A Final Four (Alphabetical)   Ankeny, Ankeny Centennial, Johnston, Dowling    *My Cinderella - Pleasant Valley - they lost plenty of talent off their Class 5A runner-up, but the cupboard is far from bare.     Class 4A Final Four (Alphabetical)   Bishop Heelan, Clear Creek-Amana, Indianola, North Scott    *My Cinderella - Lewis Central - they have a lot of athletes who have been playing club in Omaha and they have some key pieces to make a run.    Class 3A - Final Four (Alphabetical)   Assumption, Des Moines Christian, Mount Vernon, Western Christian   *My Cinderella - Mid Prairie - I don't have any family or friends connection to Mid-Prairie, I just think they have some athletes who could make noise. However, Southeast Iowa is a mess of talented teams, will be interesting how the regional lines get split.    Class 2A - Final Four (Alphabetical)   Dike-New Hartford, Eddyville-Blakesburg, Hinton, Sumner-Fred   *My Cinderella - No one wants to play Grundy Center this year. Defense is relentless and with [player_tooltip player_id='168171' first='Ellery' last='Luhring'] and [player_tooltip player_id='168170' first='Carlie' last='Willis'] they are a dangerous matchup.  It wouldn't surprise me if they had a 3 team NICL Final Four.    Class 1A - Final Four (Alphabetical)    Ankeny Christian, Holy Trinity, Don Bosco, AGWSR   *My Cinderella - Council Bluffs St. Albert returns three key attackers and play a really brutal schedule which always comes in handy for the post season.    Breakout Players. They are on the verge of leading their team to a state tournament, a state title, and could be a top player in their class.   Class 5A - [player_tooltip player_id='215749' first='Delaney' last='Miller'] (Ankeny Centennial), [player_tooltip player_id='168190' first='Tanith' last='Roush'] (Ankeny), [player_tooltip player_id='261075' first='Kaelyn' last='Wieland'] (Valley), [player_tooltip player_id='243182' first='Isabelle' last='Kremer'] (Pleasant Valley), [player_tooltip player_id='215408' first='Grace' last='Hannam'] (Cedar Falls), [player_tooltip player_id='389834' first='Ava' last='Lloyd'] (Sioux City North)    Class 4A - Aspen Miller (Indianola), [player_tooltip player_id='389934' first='Averie' last='Lower'] (Clear Creek-Amana), [player_tooltip player_id='168192' first='Noelle' last='Sutcliffe'] (Norwalk), [player_tooltip player_id='217136' first='Maliyah' last='Hacker'] (Sioux City Heelan)   Class 3A - [player_tooltip player_id='224152' first='Xada' last='Johnson'] (Clear Lake), [player_tooltip player_id='215433' first='Sophie' last='Buysee'] (West Liberty), Piper Nelson (Benton), [player_tooltip player_id='203590' first='Hadley' last='Hardersen'] (Des Moines Christian), Jahlyn Hovenga (Forest City)    Class 2A - Rowen Jensen (Ridge View), Addie Rhoades (Hudson), [player_tooltip player_id='215411' first='Peyton' last='Klooster'] (Aplington-Parkersburg), Kaci Peter (Kuemper), [player_tooltip player_id='389936' first='Taylor' last='Buhr'] (Wapsie Valley)   Class 1A - Kierstin Montag (West Bend-Mallard), [player_tooltip player_id='320104' first='Presley' last='Myers'] (Holy Trinity), Mattie Nielsen (Audubon), Mikenzie Brewer (Tri-Center)

The Iowa high school season is here! Practice is in full throttle and scrimmages and tournaments will be starting in the next couple of weeks. I have some hot takes, predictions of what could happen come early November, as well as some players who could have a monster season - some you may not know just yet.