In one big moment, Mid-Prairie’s Jovi Evans leaped to smash the ball over the net and scored a point in a River Valley volleyball match against Wilton.
No big deal, right?
A minute …
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In one big moment, Mid-Prairie’s Jovi Evans leaped to smash the ball over the net and scored a point in a River Valley volleyball match against Wilton.
No big deal, right?
A minute later, she’s setting the ball so that teammate Harper Pacha or Callie Huber can smash their own kill.
A minute after that, she’s drifting back and then diving to the floor for a dig, the volleyball term for a defensive save that keeps the ball in the air. Evans’ teammate, senior Dakota Mitchell, is one of the best in the state at it, which is why later this fall she’ll sign a national letter-of-intent with NCAA DI North Texas State.
So what is Jovi Evans?
Is she a hitter?
A setter?
A libero?
Let’s have some fun.
“I don’t know,” Jovi says, laughing. “Everything.”
Jovi’s younger sister, Jeorgia, a freshman, just shrugged. What is she?
“She’s always grown up like that. She’s always been all over.”
Jovi’s dad, Zeb Evans, who shares head coaching duties with his wife, Sherry Evans, is also puzzled.
“I don’t know,” he said, laughing.
“In our system, yeah, we’re pretty much everybody’s everybody.”
One quick look at statewide volleyball stats will tell you, there are few in the state quite like this. In traditional volleyball norms, hitters hit and setters set. Oh, sure, sometimes circumstances cause a setter to knock the ball over the net or a hitter to assist another piece of the offense. But mostly, hitters hit and setters set.
Not Jovi Evans.
She is the only player in Iowa with more than 170 kills and more than 300 assists, totaling 178 kills and 354 assists. Katie Scheckel of 4A Pella has 222 kills and 257 assists; Aspen Nelsen of 5A Indianola has 162 kills and 300 assists. It should come as no surprise that all three play for ranked teams.
And let’s not forget about Evans’ 205 digs.
It comes down to this:
“I always just really want my hands on the ball. I want to touch every single ball that I can touch,” Evans said.
“Being the setter, that really helps me and also being the hitter when I’m not setting. I expect the ball to come to me all the time. So I’m always ready to swing. And when I’m setting even, I can swing.”
And don’t even think about taking her out of a match. She never heads for the bench. Never.
Maybe mom or dad wouldn’t dare.
The ride home would be awful.
“I’m so competitive that if I come out, I’m going to be like, ‘Put me back in right away,’” she said. “I like being in control and being able to talk to everybody that’s on the court and be the leader on the court.”
What is she?
“I don’t know,” coach says.
The thing is, during club season, Jovi is a libero, a defensive specialist. So is her sister, Jeorgia. But in high school, they both play on the same team with Mitchell, who claimed the libero spot as soon as she hit the court as a freshman three years ago. Mitchell is a DI recruit who won a national championship this past summer with the Iowa Adrenaline Volleyball club and ranks second in Iowa 3A with 319 digs.
There may not be a better defensive high school team in the state just because of those three. If there’s a player diving across the floor, it’s usually Evans or Mitchell or, well, Evans. They all rank among the top seven in 3A.
And if you think Jovi is competitive, just watch her sister.
“Every ball that’s even close, it’s her ball,” Jovi said of Jeorgia. “She’s just a go-getter, she’ll never let a ball hit the floor. She’ll flail her body all over the place and it will hurt. She’ll complain about it when we get home. She will scrap any ball, it’s amazing.”
Just imagine what basketball will bring. They are both guards. Fast guards.
And track. They’re both sprinters. As a sophomore, Jovi made the state 2A finals in both the 100 and 200 last spring.
But volleyball?
What is she?
I don’t know. Everything.
News columnist Paul Bowker can be reached at bowkerpaul1@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @bowkerpaul