March 29, 2024

Six Bolts earn all-conference volleyball honors

Most of Baxter’s volleyball team was made up of juniors and seniors in 2019. The Bolts finished with their best overall record since joining the Iowa Star Conference and went 4-1 in South Division play.

Baxter’s only loss in conference play came to North Tama, which reached the state semifinals of the Class 1A tournament. Following the Redhawks loss at state, the Iowa Star Conference volleyball teams were released.

Three seniors and three juniors on the Bolts’ squad were recognized as senior Amber Weltha and juniors Sophie Meyer and Maddie Pierce were first-team selections, while senior Kaitlyn Headlee and junior Hallee Rainsbarger were chosen to the second team and senior Sadie Meyer was an honorable mention choice.

First-year Baxter head coach Joe Morton also was voted South Division Coach of the Year. The Bolts finished 14-12 and above .500 for the first time in program history.

Weltha was the top hitter in the Iowa Star Conference. She ranked first in the division with 350 kills, fourth with 30 blocks, sixth with 133 digs and seventh with 32 aces. She also had 20 assists.

Weltha ranked first in the division with a kill efficiency of .442 and first in kills per set at 4.86. Her 1.85 digs per set ranked eighth and her .935 serving percentage also ranked eighth. She was 216-of-231 in serves on the season.

In conference play, Weltha ranked first with 94 kills, third with 16 aces, third with 10 blocks and fourth with 39 digs. She was first in kill efficiency at .620 and kills per set at 5.88. Weltha also was fifth at 2.44 digs per set and was 71-of-75 in serves.

Sophie Meyer was second to Weltha and fourth in the division with 154 kills and fourth at 2.14 kills per set.

Sophie Meyer led the division with 51 aces, was fourth with 172 digs and eighth with 15 blocks. Her 2.39 digs per set ranked fifth and her kill efficiency was .216. She was 268-of-296 for a .905 serve percentage on the season.

In division play, Sophie Meyer ranked first with 21 aces, second with 43 kills, sixth with 32 digs and seventh with five blocks. Meyer was eighth with a kill efficiency of .349, averaged 2.69 kills per set and was 84-of-90 in serves for a percentage of .933.

Pierce was the Bolts’ libero. She ranked second in the division with 334 digs and second with 5.06 digs per set. Pierce was eighth with 29 aces and she was 175-of-203 in serves for a percentage of .862.

In division play, Pierce ranked second with 57 digs and first with 5.70 digs per set. She had eight aces and was 29-of-35 in serves for a percentage of .829.

Headlee, the Bolts’ setter, ranked first in the division with 575 assists and first with 7.99 assists per set. She ranked sixth with 37 aces and added 61 digs and 22 kills. She was 202-of-223 in serves for a percentage of .906.

In division play, she was first with 167 assists and led the division with 10.44 assists per set. She ranked 10th with nine aces and had five kills and eight digs. Headlee was 47-of-52 for a serve percentage of .904.

Rainsbarger led the division with 43 blocks, was 11th with 72 kills and also had 23 digs. Her .249 kill efficiency ranked fourth and she was 4-of-4 in serves with one ace.

In division play, Rainsbarger was fourth with nine blocks and also tallied 21 kills and five digs. Her .381 kill efficiency ranked seventh in the division.

Sadie Meyer ranked sixth in the division with 25 blocks. She also finished with 49 kills, 22 digs and three aces. Her kill efficiency was .218 and she was 77-of-85 in serves for a percentage of .906.

In division play, Sadie Meyer ranked fifth with eight blocks and also had 16 kills and nine digs. Her kill efficiency was .300 and she was 14-of-15 in serves for a percentage of .933.

Iowa Star Conference

South Division

Final Standings

North Tama 5-0

Baxter 4-1

Collins-Maxwell 3-2

Colo-NESCO 2-3

GMG 1-4

Meskwaki Settlement School 0-5

Coach of the Year

Joe Morton, Baxter

Player of the Year

Takoa Kopriva, North Tama

First Team

Amber Weltha, sr., Baxter

Sophie Meyer, jr., Baxter

Maddie Pierce, jr., Baxter

Katie Kopriva, sr., North Tama

Takoa Kopriva, sr., North Tama

Abigail Deboef, jr., North Tama

Reagan Franzen, jr., Collins-Maxwell

Second Team

Kaitlyn Headlee, sr., Baxter

Hallee Rainsbarger, jr., Baxter

Isabel Sierra, sr., North Tama

Carlie Gorder, sr., North Tama

Alexis Hanson, jr., North Tama

Jenna Yilek, so., GMG

Jillian Holst, sr., Collins-Maxwell

Jenna Hill, so., Colo-NESCO

Honorable Mention

Sadie Meyer, sr., Baxter

Elise Robertson, jr., Collins-Maxwell

Megan Carlson, sr., Colo-NESCO

Jordan Yilek, so., GMG

Payton Tahahwah, sr., Meskwaki Settlement