Spencer, Ia (KICD) – We continue our Fall sports previews with a look at the War Eagle Conference for Volleyball.

The Hinton Blackhawks dominated last season, rolling through the War Eagle with a 10-0 Conference record before marching all the way to the Class 2A State Championship where they fell to perennial power Dike-New Hartford. Despite graduating a chunk of production, South O’Brien Coach Amy Schmidt believes the Blackhawks will pace the league again. Schmidt also thinks her Wolverines should be able to take a big step after an 8th place finish last year.

South O’Brien loses Brooklyn Edwards, who graduated after leading the team with 90 kills and 18 blocks. Schmidt says Edwards is a big loss, but Taylor Wulf, a Junior, is ready to fill that void, along with an incoming Freshman and another Junior in Chloe Hustedt.

Schmidt says there is some competition right now in who will be anchoring the back line.

The Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn Hawks have hit the ground running this year with a busy camp week.

That’s HMS head coach Cheryl Kroese. The Hawks finished 7-18 overall and 2-8 in the War Eagle last season and will be looking to a strong senior class for leadership.

Kroese talked about what it will take for Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn to reach their goals this season.

After struggling through the 2023 season, Harris-Lake Park loses an important piece in Brooke Nicks up front, but do bring back some good athletes in Kendal Niemeier, Maddy Gilmore, and a strong Junior Class.

MMCRU took 7th last season with a 7-15 record and a 3-6 league mark. The Royals Front Line was very young in 2023, anchored by Chloe Alesch who led the team in Blocks and Kills. Breanna Staab and Tia Tentinger will also be back for MMCRU in the back line after strong years last season.

Gehlen Catholic and George-Little Rock finished 2nd and 3rd respectively last year and both bring back a lot of production. A team to watch this season would be Akron-Westfield, a senior heavy group that went 11-12 a season ago.

Be sure to follow along with War Eagle Conference Volleyball Results on my twitter account @cutler4steven, @KICDSports, and on NorthwestIowaNow.com.