There will be new faces slamming kills for the Norwalk volleyball team this season. Fortunately for Coach John Fulton, the Warriors’ next hitting standouts will be set up for success by a pair of proven commodities.
Senior Liz Iverson and sophomore Hadley Michael are both setters for the Warriors, who are listed 10th in the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union’s Class 4A preseason rankings. Iverson is second in school history with 1,132 assists, including 390 last season, and Michael led the team with 478 assists as a freshman. Fulton is comfortable with both girls running the team’s 5-1 system and tells KNIA Sports that their consistent abilities are an important asset to this year’s overall dynamic.
“I think our biggest strength is we have a lot of experience in the setter position to really help our young, inexperienced hitters,” Fulton said. “Not inexperienced because they haven’t played a lot of volleyball, but inexperienced at the varsity level. It’s a different game when we go to a scrimmage on a Friday afternoon in the summer vs. stepping on the court and playing Dowling the very first game. To have somebody run that offense will really be beneficial for us this year. Our hitters are going to grow. Our hitters are going to definitely develop a lot as the season goes along, and I’m really excited to see what we can put together.”
Norwalk graduated the program’s career kill leader in outside hitter Noelle Sutcliffe, who tallied 435 kills last season – 38 percent of the team total. Ava Johnson and Ava McKay combined for another 359 kills and were also key front row losses. Coach Fulton expects a more balanced attack distribution this year and he’s excited about the number of weapons at the net.
Senior middle Emmory Toppenberg led the Warriors with 63 blocks last season and is the returning kill leader with 132. Senior Addie Fisher added 85 kills and 25 blocks – primarily from the right side – and six-foot freshman outside hitter Elle’ Hatlevig enters the program with high expectations. Additional hitters include juniors Jillian Hammond and Ava Carlson and senior Hannah Hansen.
Senior Dakota Poen will be the Warriors’ new libero following the graduation of Grace Dehmer and her 1,209 career digs. Avery Thomas and Reese Heim will also be back row specialists.
Norwalk will participate in the Johnston Scrimmage on Saturday, then open the season on Tuesday night with a home game against Class 5A second-ranked Dowling Catholic.