Spartans volleyball opens with triangular

The Exira-EHK Spartans volleyball team is ready to get back to work after coming off a season where they finished 10-13 making it to the Class 1A – Region 4 Quarterfinal Game Oct. 18, losing in four sets to the CAM Cougars.
During the 2023 season, the Spartans were led by Brooklyn Flathers with 220 assists, Taryn Petersen with 105 digs, and Jaelynn Petersen with 171 kills, 39 blocks, and 34 serve aces.
Some of the Spartans wins came against East Union, IKM-Manning, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Paton-Churdan, West Central Valley, and a First Round Regional Victory in three sets (25-23, 25-18, and 25-15) against the Orient-Macksburg Bulldogs.
“We are always excited to get things going,” said Spartan Head Coach Derek Reischauer. “We have some higher expectations for ourselves this year, and I think the girls are chomping at the bits to get back into competition. We went to Central's Team Camp last week and did some good things down there, so we are pretty pumped up.”
Reischauer has added a new assistant coach to his staff in Audubon head softball coach Andrea Schwery. Schwery recently led the Audubon Wheelers to a state runner-up season in softball, losing the championship game 5-3 to Van Meter. Prior to this season, Schwery was the head softball coach for the Spartans.
“Coach was just added to the staff a couple days ago and I couldn't be more thrilled,” Reischauer said. “Anytime you can add a State Championship level coach to a staff, regardless of the sport, that is a good thing. I appreciate Coach Schwery's level-headedness and just having another set of experienced eyes and thoughts as to what could help us reach that next level in our volleyball program.”
The Spartans will open their season with a triangular at home against Griswold and Lenox. Last season, Lenox finished 25-12, making it to the Class 1A – Region 3 Semifinal losing in three sets to St. Albert. Griswold finished 21-11, getting eliminated by Lenox in four sets in the Class 1A – Region 3 Quarterfinal.
Lenox was led by Zoey Reed with 414 assists and Sadie Cox with 482 kills, 103 blocks, 406 digs, and 71 serve aces. Griswold was led by Carolina Arcia with 770 assists, Gabbie Greiman with 276 kills and 52 blocks, and Whitney Pennock 516 digs and 44 serve aces.
“Moving forward to the triangular with Griswold and Lenox, I’d say all three teams have great skill and can put up a fight,” said Junior Jaelynn Petersen. “Both Lenox and Griswold have taller players as well as a great defensive rotation of girls. However it all comes down to what team plays together and I feel that we are that team.”
Before the season gets underway, the Spartans will have an opportunity for some scrimmages at Atlantic High School Aug. 24 where they will one of 16 teams in attendance.
Reischauer sees this as an opportunity for the girls to work on their game/learn how to play together and learn each other’s styles out on the court.
“Any competitive experience you can get is only going to help you get better so we are really excited for those scrimmages,” he said. “We will be without one of our starters that day so we will have a different look for those scrimmages than we will in our opening matches but that gives the freshmen a chance to step up and show if they are ready to play at a varsity level yet.”
Following their season opener, the Spartans will play some tough opponents, some of which are in the Rolling Valley Conference including CAM, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Woodbine, and Glidden-Ralston.
“Personally as a player I find challenging teams to be something to look forward to,” Petersen said. “It’s an opportunity to show that our team has what it takes to be at the top and what it took to get there. Rallies between teams are always fun to watch and to be in.”