WEBSTER CITY SENIOR OLIVIA GALLENTINE (6) celebrates a point during the regular season. Gallentine was named first team all-NCC in volleyball. (DFJ photo by Britt Kudla)

Seniors Olivia Gallentine and Marissa Hedeen were part of a strong nucleus for the Webster City volleyball team in 2024.

Behind Gallentine and Hedeen, the Lynx finished as North Central Conference runner-up, winning 16 matches overall.

And for their efforts, the two were named first team all-NCC.

Classmate Cloe Savitski made the second team while junior Morgan Hackbarth was on the third.

“This year’s volleyball season was so refreshing,” WCHS head coach Jess Howard said. “I had six seniors that were not only strong players physically, they also led the team on the court to play together and handle adversity well.

“The team finished second in the NCC, and competed well all year long. There was never a point where the team plateaued in growth and they were playing their best volleyball at the end of the season. This group grew so much as the season went on and really set a tone for the future of Lynx volleyball.”

In conference matches only, Gallentine had 125 assists with 88 kills, 64 digs and 10 aces, serving at over 89 percent.

“Olivia did a great job for us this season as an outside attacker and setter,” Howard said. “She has great control on the court to command our offense and was a force at the net offensively.

“Olivia has a tremendous amount of power and is versatile to attack from any position on the court.”

Hedeen had 101 kills with 43 digs, 11 blocks and 10 aces, recording 84 of 91 successful serves.

“Marissa was selected to the first team as an outside attacker,” Howard said. “She did a great job all season of identifying the open spots on the court and keeping defenses off balance.

“Marissa can hit to all areas of the court and showed a tremendous amount of growth from last year to this year in her ability to handle adversity and handle pressure situations.”

Savitski led the Lynx with 119 digs while adding seven assists, eight aces and an 88 serve percentage.

“Cloe used her speed to track down many balls for us this season,” Howard said. “She has great instincts on the ball and did a terrific job of reading hitters to get herself into a position to pass the ball.

“Cloe has a strong platform and did a great job of starting our offense off of serve receive so that we could attack teams from the beginning.”

Hackbarth had eight aces and served at a 95 percent clip with 103 digs.

“Morgan did a great job all season long as one of our middle back defenders,” Howard said. “She reads the ball well and does whatever it takes to get a hand on the ball. She did a great job all season long keeping the ball in play for our hitters to keep attacking until they could find an opening.

“Morgan has a strong platform, and we are very excited to see what she brings to the court next year in her senior season.”