Scrimmages ready volleyball teams for season

The New London and Mid-Prairie volleyball teams had scrimmages in the past week.

New London went to West Burlington Thursday where Fort Madison, Burlington and Holy Trinity all converged for an evening of round-robin play 15 minutes at a time.

New London has a new head coach in Lindsey Johnson, who replaced Maureen Heath as she took the West Burlington position. In years past, this scrimmage was hosted at New London, but Johnson asked Heath if she wanted to continue hosting it, now at West Burlington.

“We were very excited to get to play against some strong competition,” Johnson said. “We had a slow start to the evening against Holy Trinity, but we continued to progress as the night went on.”

New London went to the state tournament last year under Heath with Johnson as her assistant. A first-round loss to Gehlen Catholic ended the season with a 22-8 record.

“I still think that we have a lot to work on offensively, but we showed some good moments on defense,” Johnson said. “I’m glad that we were able to go and get some games in before we start our regular season matches.”

Sherry Evans took her Mid-Prairie team to Wilton Wednesday to play 20-minute blocks against Wilton, Anamosa, Camanche, Durant, North Cedar and Iowa City Regina, all River Valley Conference teams.

“Overall, I am pleased with how we played,” Evans said. "I am seeing much promise out of this group.

Evans said Landry Pacha did an excellent job of taking command. Pacha put up 265 assists as a sophomore last season. Offensively, the Golden Hawks look to be a threat with juniors Ella Groenewold and Maya Nonnenmann hitting, then seniors Maddie Nonnenmonn and Alyssa McDowell blocking.

Setters and hitters cannot be successful without good passes. Evans said that area has improved with freshmen Dakota Mitchell, Lanee Duwa, Brenna Jehle and senior Cana Rediger. All have contributed to better defense and depth.

“These girls have been working hard and it showed,” Evans said. “We definitely have things to work on as far as the speed of our game and picking up our tempo to take us to the next level, but the girls are getting there.

“Being out on the court, I can see what we need to work on to be more successful,” Evans said. “As always, talking on the court and communication amongst the players would also help improve our game.”

The Golden Hawks were 9-16 last year, with the nine wins the most since 2016. In the River Valley Conference, the record of 3-6 was the most wins since 2014.