The 2024 Westbrook-Walnut Grove volleyball team includes (front row, left to right) Ambrosa Yang, Olivia Locke, Faith Marsh, Natalie Wahl, Carlie Ross, Sage Bents, Leah VanDeWiele, (back row) Myah Maznio, Riley Parker, Leah Carter, Hadley Jenniges, Sydney Foster, Anna Byers. The team is coached by head coach Meghann Westover with assistant coach Rustan Krentz Jackels.

WESTBROOK — A large leap forward in 2023 gave the Westbrook-Walnut Grove volleyball team a great deal of hope for the future. Now the Chargers will look to build off that progress in 2024.

Last season gave Chargers’ fans plenty of reason for optimism. After a solid 13-11 campaign the year prior, WWG exploded for a 23-5 record, earning the No. 3 seed in the Section 3A South bracket before falling in the subsection semifinals to the second-seeded Heron Lake-Okabena/Fulda Coyotes in a five-set battle. 

“Something that we had last year was immense leadership from our senior crew,” WWG head coach Meghann Westover said. “They really wanted to win. They had big goals and they were going to do anything to get those goals. The nice thing is that this group of girls got to watch them set those goals, so I’m hoping that they step into that role and want to win and have fun.”

The senior leadership in question included setter Addeson Jenniges — who recorded 245 digs and a team-leading 794 set assists — and libero Abby Wiggins — who recorded a team-best 317 digs. They also graduated Macie Christians and Ella Knakmuhs, who finished with 182 digs and 107 kills respectively.

Hadley Jenniges will be filling in for her older sister in the setter role this season. Hadley’s experience last year included playing in just 33 of the team’s 84 sets but she was effective in her time on the floor with 39 kills and seven total blocks. 

“I’ve definitely gotten to watch a lot of the things [Addeson] has done, so I’m trying to use that to my advantage and just play off how we did last year,” Hadley Jenniges said. 

Westover said that Hadley has looked like a very capable setter and hitter so far, with sophomore Myah Maznio also having the potential to earn some experience at the setter position. The two have often been spending four hours each day at the gym, Westover said. She added that she felt like, with the team’s two leading hitters returning and plenty of veteran leadership, the Chargers are still set up for offensive success.

“I think [the team] just needs to fully commit to whatever lineup we start with,” Westover said. “Once we get that decided, if the team just completely buys into that, I think we’ll be just fine.”

Natalie Wahl returns as one of the key building blocks of the WWG roster. An Independent All-Area Second Team selection last year, Wahl showed off her versatility in both the front and back rows. The outside hitter’s team-leading 354 kills came on a .257 hitting percentage, the best on the team. She also had 29 blocks. In the back row, she contributed 301 digs and 32 service aces.

The Chargers jumped out of the gates to a strong start last season, winning each of their first 12 matches. After a pair of sweeps by HLOF and eventual Red Rock Conference and Class A state champion Russell-Tyler-Ruthton ended the Chargers’ season-opening win streak, they quickly returned to form with another five consecutive wins. They’ll look to get off to another strong start this year.

“I think something that we can take from last year is just the effort that everybody brought in,” Wahl said. “We all get along together and I think that will definitely help moving forward and in terms of growing the team, because we have a lot of new girls this year.”

Carlie Ross and Riley Parker also return as efficient pieces of the Chargers’ front row. Ross logged 254 kills on a 34.1% kill percentage while Parker added another 153 kills on a 37.7% kill percentage. Ross also added 123 digs while Parker’s 37 total blocks trailed only Knakmuhs’ 41 and put her past Wahl’s 29.

Parker and Anna Byers were two players that Westover said are also going to be big for team morale, describing Byers as “everyone’s cheerleader” and adding that Parker excels at both taking criticism and finding joy in everything.

“The biggest thing is just playing as a team, winning as a team and losing as a team,” Westover said. “We need to really celebrate our highs and learn to step out of our lows. If we make a mistake, we’ll learn from it and move on.”

As a member of the Red Rock Conference, the Chargers won’t be short on quality competition with RTR and HLOF both in the conference and plenty of other strong teams in Section 3A. They’ll also face a stacked field at the Jimmy John’s Tournament in Marshall in early October.

The Chargers will kick off their season on Aug. 27 at Springfield at 7:15 p.m. They’ll have to wait until Sept. 10 for their home opener, in which they will host Southwest Minnesota Christian on Sept. 10.

“I’m very excited for the environment,” Jenniges said of the team’s home opener. “We have great fans and I’m looking forward to having them all here. And I’m just excited to play the game again in general, learning new things with all the new girls and continuing to play with everybody.”

Even with the strong schedule, Westover says that the Chargers are hoping to finish in the top three in their conference despite their offseason losses, specifically citing having two of the best hitters in the conference in Wahl and Ross as driving factors. Wahl added that just building chemistry and learning to play as a team with a different group is among the team’s primary focuses heading into the season.

“As long as we can develop that setter-hitter relationship, I’m confident in what our defense can do,” Westover said. “I love watching these girls develop as we go. Even from Monday [Aug. 12] when we started to today [Aug. 14], girls that didn’t get things two days ago, they get it now,” Westover said. “There are just better connections on the court. Once you start figuring out where you’re planning to play, it’s easy to develop that.”