Wolves prepare for new volleyball season

After a tough 2-23 finish to their 2022 campaign, the IKM-Manning Wolves volleyball team is ready to get back on the court and start fresh with a new season.

“It’s always great to get back in the gym,” said Wolves Head Coach McKaylie Croghan. “I love watching the girls grow year to year not just with their volleyball skills, but also their leadership.”

The two wins the Wolves accumulated last year came against the Coon Rapids-Bayard Crusaders Sept. 6 winning both sets and at home Oct. 3 beating the Ar-We-Va Rockets in five sets, winning the final set 15-10.

The Wolves lost four seniors, but Croghan is confident the new seniors will step up and take on a leadership role for some of the younger girls.

“The senior group always steps into that leadership role,” she said. “They are excited to design team shirts and create the team warm up playlist as well as demonstrating leadership on the court.”

The Wolves will have to replace Amber Halbur who led in assists with 194 and Kylie Powers who had the most kills with 85.

Incoming Senior Megan Williams will help fill the void. She led the team in blocks during her junior year with 22. Croghan is confident she will have a great season.

“We have a great group of girls who have been stepping up,” she added. “Megan Williams has been playing well for the start of the season.”

According to Croghan, some of the tougher opponents they will face this season will be Missouri Valley, Treynor and Underwood.

The Wolves played all three of them last season starting with Missouri Valley at home Sept. 8 losing three consecutive sets, Sept. 15 against Underwood where they lost three sets in a row, and five days after, dropping three sets to Treynor.

Croghan would like to see her team clean up mistakes they made last year.

“I want to improve on our serve receive and I know its early, but I do feel that we spent a lot of time on that in open gym this year and it is looking better,” she said.

The Wolves will have a scrimmage Aug. 19 in Atlantic where they will be one of 15 schools competing. They will play the Boyer Valley Bulldogs for their first home match Aug. 31.

Last season, the Bulldogs went 17-16. They were led by Lauren Malone with 547 assists, Jessica O’Day with 263 kills, Sylvia Sullivan with 34 blocks and Maria Puck with 269 digs.