Lone Tree's volleyball season ends in Central City

By Douglas Miles
Posted 10/18/22

It is easy to see why Lora Sieverding called her team “so much fun to coach.”

The Lone Tree prep volleyball coach directed a joyful group that beamed with so much outward enthusiasm …

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Lone Tree's volleyball season ends in Central City

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It is easy to see why Lora Sieverding called her team “so much fun to coach.”

The Lone Tree prep volleyball coach directed a joyful group that beamed with so much outward enthusiasm that it was often difficult to determine whether things on the court were going well or if they were a struggle.

Though the wins were few this season, it was a group that made its mark.

“You hate to see your season end,” Sieverding said after the Lady Lions’ were swept by Central City, 25-14, 25-13, 25-16 in a Class 1A regional first round match Monday night at Central City High School. “Like we were telling them, they learned so much from the very beginning to the end of the season. It is hard to say goodbye to the seniors because we had some very good, talented seniors on there, but we have some good girls coming up, too.”

Lone Tree (5-20) was on the wrong end of a 12-6 closing burst in Game 1, but rebounded to claim an early lead in the second game by scoring six of the first seven points before the Wildcats exploded with a 19-4 surge. Lone Tree attempted to avoid the sweep by getting within 11-10 of Central City in Game 3, but the Wildcats (19-12) closed strong again and advanced to Wednesday’s quarterfinal round with 14 of 20 points.

“I thought we played really well for what we were doing, making some adjustments,” Sieverding said. “The girls did a nice job of doing that after time outs and going in. We got some of those blocks set and it just took us a little bit to get in the groove of things.”

The Lady Lions lose five seniors off the team, including a couple of outstanding performers in right-side hitter Riley Krueger and setter Ella Buser.

Krueger entered regional play with a team-high 131 kills, 170 digs and 33 ace serves and says the bonds that were made among teammates is what made this a special bunch.

“We have gotten really close this past season,” said Krueger, who will play basketball and run track at Lone Tree before heading to the University of Iowa next year. “I’ll always remember those.”

Buser will also be tough to replace. As a setter, the future University of Northern Iowa business student led Lone Tree with 197 assists and ranked second with 40 kills and 22 ace serves prior to the regional tournament. Buser also recorded 102 digs.

“We’ve all grown up together,” said Buser, who will rejoin the Lone Tree cheerleading squad this winter. “We have all seen the worst of the worst and we’ve all seen the best of the best. It is fun to grow up with each other on the court.”

Fellow seniors Emma Slaughter, Lindsay Werbach and Hannah Zadow are also moving on and will each leave a void on the roster.

“They were very strong on the bench,” Sieverding said. “They did their ‘towel wars,’ they were able to come in and give somebody relief if we needed to... Besides their skill set, their leadership has been really outstanding for our team and they have done a really good job of keeping everybody focused and on task. Good practices and great games. They are going to be hard ones to fill.”

Lone Tree will bring back an intriguing group of players for next season, highlighted by a highly-productive quartet of current sophomores in middle hitters Rylee Shield (22 kills, 32 digs, team-high 17 blocks) and Cate Sexton (25 kills, 26 digs, 15 aces, 15 blocks), plus outside hitters Alex Dautremont (27 kills, 136 digs, 12 aces, 10 assists) and Avery Morarie (27 kills, 32 digs, 13 blocks, 14 aces).

“They are very coachable,” Sieverding said. “From the beginning to the end, the improvement has been massive and I can’t wait until next year.”

After a 2-15 start to the season, Lone Tree finished with three wins in its last eight matches.

“The growth from the beginning of the year to now is just immaculate,” Sexton said. “I remember our first set, I was terrified out there being a sophomore because I had never played varsity and there were a lot of fellow sophomores with me that were really scared. I was a middle, I’d run into Ella as she was trying to set. I’d run into Riley as she was trying to hit. But now it is like, I think our team is really just working like clockwork. We know where each other is and we know how to work together.”

Another current sophomore that is expected to be an important part of next season’s success is Hayden Yoder, who has already received Buser’s stamp of approval as the setter of the future for the Lady Lions.

“She’ll be the next top setter,” Buser said. “She is really working at it.”

Next year’s team is expected to have four seniors, led by libero Hogan Eden (10 kills, 154 digs this season.)

“Sophomores and juniors, we have already played together for a while,” Sexton said. “I feel like we are really going to get into a rhythm.”