2023 Standings
Laconia* 7-0
Springs** 6-1
Mayville 5-2
WLA* 4-3
Campbellsport 3-4
Omro 2-5
North Fond du Lac 1-6
Lomira 0-7
*Regional final qualifier
**Regional champion
Laconia won its first 32 games in the 2023 season entering the regional championship.
That’s when Flyway rival St. Mary’s Springs knocked them off in a back-and-forth five-set thriller.
Now-senior libero Aubrey Leonard said she hopes that stumbling block was a learning experience for the Spartans as they head into the final season for eight of the players.
“This season our key is not to take a game for granted,” Leonard said. “Last season we were undefeated up until [the playoff loss] so we weren’t used to losing and we kind of had in our head that we were a really good team. We need to remember this is our last season so we have to stay focused.”
Laconia figures to be one of the favorites to win the conference again this season, despite losing Callista VandeBerg, who won player of the year.
The Spartans return five all-conference performers, headlined by outside Eva Engel, who was a unanimous first-teamer in 2023. She is joined by second-team returners outside-hitter Addison McCauley, setter Pallen Kloetzke and Tierney Madigan as well as honorable mention hitter Payton Morgan.
Kloetzke led the Flyway with 822 assists in 2023, according to MaxPreps.
“This senior class is really talented and dedicated,” coach Kaitlyn Wiese said. “I hope they have a chip on their shoulder so they’re ready to come in and fight and show people how far we can really go.”
Wiese enters her eighth season in charge of the Spartans. She said one of the main areas of improvement for Laconia over the offseason was serve receive.
Wiese highlighted Leonard’s work ethic in the offseason to hone in her skills in that area.
“I’ve never seen a kid be able to read a ball so well,” Wiese said. “I’m really proud of her this summer working on her serve receive, which I would say was our weakest point last season. She came in and really stepped up.”
If the Spartans can improve their defense and passing, it will make them one of the best teams in the state once again considering the experience and talent returning at setter and on offense.
Engel said she has seen the team take initiative to get better by players working on their own and coming to team workouts or open gyms.
“[Coach Wiese] can only want it so much for us, but we have to want it for ourselves, that’s the only way it’s going to happen,” Engel said. “We have to focus on serve receive so we can get a good ball up because we have a lot of offensive weapons.
Also, just making smart decisions offensively and making the opponent make the mistakes; keep the mistakes away from our side.”
Springs advanced the furthest in the playoffs in 2023 thanks to the upset win against Laconia and the Ledgers will lean on returners Lexi Coon, Braelyn Lewis and Rylee Gilgenbach to help continue the program’s recent success.
Springs will have to find replacements for Addisyn King and Greta Pleuss, who were both first team performers. Both are playing volleyball in college: King at Concordia in Mequon and Pleuss at The Citadel in South Carolina.
Pleuss had 769 assists, 254 digs and 89 service aces in 2023.
Coach Kelsey Fenner said early on she believes the collective group is stronger than in 2023 with the exception of setting, but she is confident the team will find quality setters to go with a talent group of hitters and strong defenders.
After the Laconia win, the Ledgers got beat by Marshall in the sectional semifinal round in five sets. Lewis said she thinks the team had a lot of momentum, but learned a valuable lesson from that loss.
“Obviously we were very successful in the Laconia match because of the hard work that we put in,” Lewis said. “I feel like we gained a lot of confidence after that, but we didn’t really put that into our practices [after Laconia] so I feel like we need to practice every day like it’s the state championship.”
Fenner said Lewis, who was a second-team middle last year, provides the Ledgers with versatility.
“She’s a power hitter even though she was a middle last year,” Fenner said. “Going into her last year she hopes to set some and play right side because she might be doing that in college.”
Lewis recently committed to play at Olivet Nazarene University. She said she wants to keep getting better at every aspect of the game because she doesn’t know which position she will play at the next level.
“I’m looking to grow in every aspect because I can play in multiple positions,” Lewis said. “My personal goal is to make my teammates around me better.”
Springs is looking for its first conference title since 2021, which was setter Izzy Coon’s senior year. Coon now plays at UW-Oshkosh.
Izzy’s younger sisters Lexi and Anna are both in the program this season. Lexi said she hopes she can bring similar qualities to the court that Izzy did when she was at Springs.
“Volleyball has been the main sport for us girls,” Lexi Coon said. “I learned from Izzy how to be a great leader. She was always that person on the court that you could look at and tell she was a leader and she’s helping the team out.
“I hope I can be that for Anna and the rest of the team.”
Fenner said Lexi Coon is terrific at reading a ball and always knowing her assignment defensively while Anna Coon will also have a role as a defensive specialist. Gilgenbach will move from middle to outside this year and Fenner said she has found success in the role quickly.
Fenner has challenged her team with a tough nonconference schedule again this year. The Ledgers play in tournaments hosted by Notre Dame and Lake Country Lutheran. Fenner said she hopes playing D1 and D2 schools helps to prepare for the bright lights of playoffs.
Coon said it gives the team confidence to realize that Fenner believes they are a quality team based on the challenging schedule.
“You can tell she expects a lot from us,” Lexi Coon said. “Even though maybe we won’t win some of those games, we’ll see things that we won’t see in our conference.
“It’s great to be able to play up to a higher level and then when we come into conference, we know that we have the skills to play at that level.”
Winnebago Lutheran Academy won the Flyway two years ago, but stumbled to a fourth-place finish in 2023. The Vikings also lost some record production from last year’s roster, including four-year starter Malayna Dins and fellow first-teamer Averie Suprenand.
Dins and Suprenand were part of a group of six seniors on the roster. The Vikings lost four of their top five leaders in kills.
Suprenand was also excellent from the service line.
WLA’s limited returning experience comes in the form of senior Brooklyn Dins and juniors Sam Unger and Hailey Wolf. Dins and Unger each have two years of varsity experience.
Dins returns as the starting middle, Unger brings two years of setting experience and Wolf was the libero last season. Unger was third in the conference with 762 assists.
“I think that Brooklyn is great to have as a middle because she constantly has to be moving and like technically speaking she is very very good at that,” Unger said. “She knows how to read hitters and things like that and I can say that same thing for Hailey. She can pick up those short balls that others struggle with.
“I definitely think that if we can keep up with games defensively then it will make up for the fact that offensively we lost a lot of our strength.”
Wolf said the team chemistry is good so far, it’s just up to the offense to try to get into a groove with a lot of new players taking on key roles.
“Brooklyn and Sam obviously have a connection from the last two years which will obviously help,” Wolf said. “Sam is a very good setter. It's just going to be building those setter hitter connections this year.”
Unlike WLA, Campbellsport lost just two players from last year’s team that finished fifth in the conference while returning five seniors, including second-team setter Carleigh Ward and honorable mention libero Natalie Sippel.
Both Sippel and Ward said the group has continued to grow closer over the offseason, which she believes will translate to success on the court.
“We were already close last year and we’re closer this year,” Ward said. “This offseason we’ve worked really hard to work together.”
Ward said there is a smooth connection between defense to set to offense and senior defensive specialist Alyssa Koelbl said she has been impressed with how the offense looks so far in practice.
“Our hitters really know how to position themselves to be able to put the ball down,” Koelbl said.
“I hope we use [nonconferece] to iron out all of the wrinkles so that we’ll be ready and playing well when we get to conference play,” senior right side Gabi Danza said.
Coach Jessica Jensen said she has seen the group of seniors buy in to make their final year successful. She said they led open gyms all summer along with welcoming new players into the program.
She also highlighted outside hitter Ellie Smith and setter Emma Muraski, who are both sophomores, as players that will stand out for the Cougars.
“[Smith] can really put that ball down and she plays all the way around,” Jensen said. “Emma is a setter, who also loves to play outside and right side. She’s versatile. She is a great player, I’m excited to see what she can do.
“Obviously, our five seniors are going to be important for us this year.”
Jensen has been with the program for three years, but is entering her first year as the head coach. She said she has enjoyed getting to watch the group of upperclassmen grow and said the team has the potential to have a great year.
“I’ve been through this program, I love these girls and I love this community,” Jensen said. “I’m so proud of what they’ve accomplished so far and we are only one week into the season.
“I’m excited to see how they keep going because I believe in them.”
Mayville finished third in the Flyway in 2023 behind unanimous first team middle Emily Hansen, who was a senior and was third in the conference with 267 kills according to MaxPreps. Mayville also lost honorable mention senior Hannah Wolf.
All-conference returners for the Cardinals are Emily Derkowski and Aubrey Thom, who are both seniors this year. Derkowski was 11th with 138 kills and fourth with 284 digs; Thom was top-five in the Flyway with 322 assists.
Omro, North Fond du Lac and Lomira finished in the bottom three of the Flyway. The Foxes will have Brooklyn Grams and Mae Johnston back as seniors. North Fondy’s Lily Roberts returns as a junior and Lomira’s Trista Gassner and Nora Buske return for their junior and senior seasons, respectively.
MaxPreps and WisSports did not have statistics for Omro, NFDL or Lomira.
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