Photo courtesy of Barb Johnson: The 2024 Wabasso volleyball team includes (front row, left to right) Emma Salfer, Amelia Bootsma, Carly Fenger, Audrey Johnson, Sara Carlson, Britta Brand, (back row) Leah Mathiowetz, Alivia Olson, Kenley Guetter, Camryn Irlbeck, Olivia Wall and Anistasia Smith. The team is coached by head coach Barb Johnson with assistant coaches Karlee Eichten and Darci Tietz.

WABASSO — After a strong start in 2023, the Wabasso volleyball team faltered down the stretch of the season last year. The Rabbits spent the bulk of the year ranked in the top 10 but were eliminated in the second round of the Section 3A tournament as the No. 4 seed. Despite some significant losses from the roster, the Rabbits will look to unlock their potential this season.

Wabasso finished its 2023 campaign at 15-10 but ended the season on a sour note. They dropped each of their final four games, including a pair of losses to Renville County West. The season came to an end with a 3-0 sweep against the Jaguars in their first postseason matchup.

Since then, Wabasso has had some tough losses on the roster. Senior outside hitters Avery Carlson and Natasha Doubler graduated while another key player, sophomore middle blocker Lyla Kittelson, moved away. 

Each of their missing pieces was a key part of their previous success but Carlson, a six-rotation player who recorded 153 kills and 280 digs as a senior, leaves Wabasso with a particularly large gap to fill. After logging 265 assists as a varsity setter in eighth grade, she spent time as a defensive specialist and as a hitter during her prep career. She recorded 153 kills and 280 digs as a senior, leaving her just 18 shy of 1,000 career digs.

Coach Johnson said that the team may not have as well-rounded of a player as Avery Carlson this year but that the team still has the depth to compete. She then listed senior Alivia Olson and juniors Sara Carlson and Audrey Johnson as some of the players that she expects to continue to step up this season, with Olson in particular adding some leadership to the team.

“There’s a lot of experience in all different parts of the game, so I’m hoping that we can pull that all together and have a good run,” coach Johnson said.

This is a team that still comes in with high expectations. The Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association ranked the Rabbits ninth in Class A in their preseason poll and coach Johnson said that the team is aiming to repeat as Tomahawk Conference Champions after claiming its first title since 2018 last year.

“We have a lot of experience coming in but there are still going to be some new faces, so it’s going to be kind of a learning curve for us,” coach Johnson said. “I hope we have enough experience on the court that we can kind of cover up the inexperience and have a good season… and then do really well in sections because, as you know, section 3A is really tough.”

Audrey Johnson is going to be a key component of the team’s success on the defensive end. Heading into her fourth season with the team after joining the varsity squad as an eighth grader, Johnson set her career-high at 377 digs as a freshman and put together another quality campaign as a sophomore with 317 digs last year. Her performance last season earned her All-Conference honors and she sits just 46 digs shy of surpassing the 1,000-dig milestone heading into this season.

“[Defense] is always really my focus because if the ball doesn’t hit the ground, you can’t lose,” coach Johnson said with a laugh. “But I do think that this year we have some more talented hitters than we’ve had in recent years. I think that’s going to help us really transfer the good defense and digs into points.”

Olson, another All-Conference honoree, will lead the Wabasso hitters this season. In three years with varsity, Olson has shown some versatility. She had 241 kills as a sophomore and another 239 in her junior season last year. Her 107 digs as a junior also bring her up to 307 in her career as she enters her senior season. 

Middle blocker Camryn Irlbeck aslo enters her junior season as an All-Conference honorable mention, logging a team-leading 50 total blocks to set the tone at the net. She also recorded 123 kills last year, averaging 1.7 per game.

Emma Salfer, Anistasia Smith and Olivia Wall will each also be entering their senior season in the Wabasso front row with an increased role ahead of them.

Facilitating the offense this year will be Avery’s younger sister, Sara Carlson. As a sophomore, Sara was an All-Conference honorable mention in her third season as a varsity athlete. 

Carlson spent her first two seasons as a defensive specialist, logging 53 digs as an eighth grader and 189 as a freshman, with seven total set assists over the two seasons. Yet, in her first season as a setter last year, she flourished in the role with 643 set assists as well as each of her nine career blocks.

“So far in preseason she’s just done a really good job of being consistent physically,” coach Johnson said. “We’ve got a new middle, a new right side, a new outside and she’s been able to give them balls that they can hit and that they can get better off each one. [Last season] she was really working on making herself better, now she can focus on making others better as well.”

The Rabbits will kick off the season on Thursday when they host Yellow Medicine East at 7 p.m.They’ll open conference play just over two weeks later with a road matchup at New Ulm Cathedral on Sept. 5.

Coach Johnson described the team as a “fun bunch of kids that just really want to play,” adding that she’s excited to see their excitement and enthusiasm in a competitive setting in a few days.