Pool Previews of State Powers Colliding at Ankeny Centennial
In this article:
Iowa high school volleyball has begun! School is in session, that means it’s one of the hottest weeks of the summer. This Saturday marks the opening of the tournament season. Those early morning bus rides. This upcoming Saturday, Ankeny Centennial…
Access all of Prep Dig
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingIowa high school volleyball has begun! School is in session, that means it’s one of the hottest weeks of the summer. This Saturday marks the opening of the tournament season. Those early morning bus rides. This upcoming Saturday, Ankeny Centennial will be hosting quite the group of powerhouse programs. 14 of the 16 Teams will come into this tournament ranked with top ranked in 5A, Waukee Northwest and number on in 2A Dike-New Hartford in attendance. Let’s take a look at the pool breakdown.
Pool A
5A – #5 Cedar Falls
5A – #1 Waukee NW
4A – #6 Nevada
5A – #8 Ankeny
Take your pick out of this group on who would advance to gold. Total toss up. Cedar Falls will be led by two senior outsides in Brynn Paup and Carley Strelow along with Grace Hannam Grace Hannam 6'1" | MB Cedar Falls | 2025 State IA in the middle. A sophomore on the rise for the Tigers is setter Brynn Bakula Brynn Bakula 5'8" | S Cedar Falls | 2026 State IA . Waukee NW returns almost everyone from their state tournament team last year. Kamryn Vogt Kamryn Vogt 6'0" | MB Waukee Northwest | 2024 State IA , Chloe Jones Chloe Jones 5'11" | OH Waukee Northwest | 2024 State IA , Katrina Pelds, Chloee Hayes Chloee Hayes 5'11" | MB Waukee Northwest | 2024 State IA all had over 200 kills last year and are back for more. Nevada has already kicked off their season with wins over Carroll Kuemper and Winterset with a lost to Dike-New Hartford. They will return a strong core of attackers in Emma Strottman, Mya Spykerman Mya Spykerman 5'11" | OH Nevada | 2025 IA , Isabelle Nelson, and incoming sophomore Rachel Borwick Rachel Borwick OH Nevada | 2026 State IA . Ankeny has a ton of firepower in their lineup with multiple D1 commits. Tanith Roush Tanith Roush 6'0" | RS Ankeny | 2024 State IA (North Dakota State), Baleigh Carlson (Auburn), Reagan Hanfelt Reagan Hanfelt 6'0" | MB Ankeny | 2025 State IA (Iowa State), and Aowyn Schrader Aowyn Schrader 6'1" | OH Ankeny | 2024 State #147 Nation IA (Middle Tennessee State). Another attacker to keep on tabs in Kamryn Scheib who had 10 kills in their season opening loss to #2 Dowling.
Pool B
2A – #1 Dike-New Hartford
5A – #10 Pleasant Valley
5A – #4 WDM Valley
5A – #13 Sioux City North
Everyone is going to be chasing Dike-New Hartford in all classes. Will be tough to argue against this squad who will be on a revenge tour after falling short in the Class 2A state title match. This is also the swan song for a very decorated senior class that features Payton Petersen Payton Petersen 6'0" | OH Dike-New Hartford | 2024 State #55 Nation IA (Louisville), Jadyn Petersen Jadyn Petersen 5'9" | OH Dike-New Hartford | 2024 State #195 Nation IA (UNI), and Maryn Bixby Maryn Bixby 6'1" | MB Dike-New Hartford | 2024 State IA (UNI). Pleasant Valley will be a bit of a wild card this year where they graduated plenty of talent from a senior class who won state titles in basketball and volleyball, but will return one of the top sophomores in Iowa in 6’2 pin attacker Isabelle Kremer Isabelle Kremer 6'3" | RS Pleasant Valley | 2026 State IA . Another top sophomore in the state will be playing for West Des Moines Valley in Kaelyn Wieland Kaelyn Wieland 5'8" | S West Des Moines Valley | 2026 State IA who can set and swing, an extremely dynamic player. Sioux City North will have a chance to make a statement to the rest of the state. Ava Lloyd Ava Lloyd 5'9" | OH Sioux City North | 2026 State IA will be leading the North Stars as a sophomore where she had over 200 kills in her freshman campaign.
Pool C
5A – #6 Ankeny Centennial
5A – #7 Iowa City Liberty
5A – #9 Sioux City East
4A – #5 Norwalk
I think Ankeny Centennial is a final four team with the type of athletes they have on their roster. However, they dropped their season opener to Indianola in four sets. Jaeden Pratt Jaeden Pratt MB Ankeny Centennial | 2025 State IA is one of the top athletes overall in the Junior class where she is a dominant middle blocker, but is also receiving D1 offers for basketball. Delaney Miller is one of the most dominant attackers in the state and will be putting up big numbers. Iowa City Liberty will have to replace a lot of point scoring ability from their Class 5A state championship team, but will have Asta Hildebrand Asta Hildebrand S Iowa City Liberty | 2025 State IA back as one of the top setters in 2025. Sioux City East is coming to make a name. Olivia Mentzer will be one of their top attackers and a really dynamic athlete to watch will be Hollie Petersen who can set and score points. Norwalk fell one match short of the state tournament in 2022 and will want to stay in the top eight to potentially host a regional final. This will be a great chance for them to get some high quality wins. They started their season with a win over a ranked Bondurant-Farrar and will look to senior leader Noelle Sutcliffe Noelle Sutcliffe 5'11" | OH Norwalk | 2024 State IA to score plenty of points on the outside.
Pool D
5A – Waukee
5A – Davenport West
5A – #11 Council Bluffs Abe Lincoln
5A – #2 Dowling
Waukee will be coming in with plenty of youth and Davenport West will come in with a balanced attack that features Junior, Rachel Ehlers. Abe Lincoln and Dowling bring in a lot of fire power and both will be looking to playing in big matches come late October. Abe Lincoln has the do it all type setter in Molly Romano Molly Romano 5'10" | S Council Bluffs Abe Lincoln | 2024 State IA who will head to Wayne State in Nebraska. An incredibly dynamic athlete, she can set up her teammates for kills or take it herself. Dowlng has one of the most dominant attackers in the state in Mc Kenzie Dean Kenzie Dean 6'3" | OH Dowling Catholic | 2024 State #145 Nation IA who has committed to Kansas. The Maroons also have Ella Rogers Ella Rogers 6'1" | S Dowling | 2025 State IA , one of the top setters in the Class of 2025 in Iowa.