An outstanding season by the Warrior volleyball team earns the number seven spot on the KNIA-KRLS list of Norwalk’s top 10 sports stories during the 2022-23 school year.

Team highlights included a 24-11 overall record, a 6-1 conference mark that tied Indianola for the regular season Little Hawkeye title, and a second straight appearance in the Class 4A regional finals. The win total was the program’s highest in six years and the conference title was the Warriors’ first since 2015.

Norwalk opened regional play with a thrilling comeback, outlasting Sergeant Bluff-Luton in five sets. The Warriors were then swept by Sioux City Heelan in a regional final, losing three competitive sets to fall short of the program’s first-ever state tournament berth.

Coach John Fulton tells KNIA-KRLS Sports that one of the team’s best traits during his first season at the helm was a never-say-die attitude. Whether losing the first set of a weekend tournament match or falling behind 2-1 in a five-setter, Fulton says the Warriors always believed that they had the firepower to rally back.

“These girls just never gave up,” he said. “That was something that we kind of hung our hats on – that we knew we had the capability to compete with anybody, no matter what the score was.”

Individually, junior outsider hitter Noelle Sutcliffe tied the single-season school record for kills with 363 – a mark set by Abby Brenizer in 2021 – and established a new school record with 3.86 kills per set. Junior libero Grace Dehmer scrambled for 431 digs, sophomore Liz Iverson set 742 assists and senior Sami Aagard led the way with 57 blocks.

The Warriors graduated only two seniors off the 2022 squad, and expectations are high for another great season this fall.