Mississippi Valley Conference reveals yearly volleyball honors

The Mississippi Valley Volleyball Conference released its 2024 all-conference nominations Tuesday night, giving its five-member schools some postseason honors following the season’s conclusion a few weeks ago.

Members Leopold, Marquand, Meadow Heights, Oak Ridge and Zalma were all represented on the conference’s honors list.

At the top of the honors are the Player of the Year and Coach of the Year, with the two being split up this season as Oak Ridge and Leopold split honors.

Oak Ridge senior standout and future Mineral Area College Cardinal Reagan Howe took home Player of the Year honors, while Leopold coach Heather Jansen was the conference’s top coach.

Leopold was the undisputed conference champion, winning all of its conference regular-season games, plus sealing the deal with a 2-1 victory over Oak Ridge in the conference championship game.

The Oak Ridge Bluejays were the only team in the conference to win a district championship, defeating New Haven 3-1 in the Class 1 District 4 championship game to claim their first district crown in program history.

The conference’s player honorees were split into three teams, either receiving first-team, second-team or honorable mention honors for the year.

For the first team, Ashtyn Van de Ven of Leopold, Rylie Schreiner of Leopold, Jaycee Shelton of Meadow Heights, Mandie Kent of Meadow Heights, Reagan Howe of Oak Ridge, Kinsley Bogenpohl of Oak Ridge and Cambry Bennett all received top honors.

The second team was comprised of Piper Lincoln of Leopold, Ava Jansen of Leopold, Malia VanderMierden of Leopold, Kinley Burr of Meadow Heights, Kaelyn Deckerd of Oak Ridge, Kenadie Ward of Oak Ridge and Aizlyn Freeman of Zalma.

For the honorable mention nods, Maddison Stephens of Marquand, Brooklyn Myers of Marquand, Kenna Thele of Meadow Heights and Nekoda Burnett of Zalma all received nominations to conclude the conference’s honors.

Leopold led the conference with five players receiving all-conference honors: Ashtyn Van de Ven and Rylie Schreiner on the first team, plus Piper Lincoln, Ava Jansen and Malia VanderMierden on the second team.

Oak Ridge followed close behind in a tie for second place with POTY-honoree Reagan Howe and Kinsley Bogenpohl on the first team, as well as Kaelyn Deckerd and Kenadie Ward on the second-team list.

Meadow Heights’ Jaycee Shelton and Mandie Kent made the first team, plus Kinley Burr on the second team and Kenna Thele as an honorable mention for four players on the all-conference teams.

Zalma placed three on the list, with Cambry Bennett’s first-team nod, along with Aizlyn Freeman on the second team and Nekoda Burnett’s honorable mention.

Marquand had two of the four honorable mention nominees, with Maddison Stephens and Brooklynn Myers making the all-conference team to put the Tigers on the list.