SCAA volleyball players rack up postseason honors

Advance senior Addi Carlton has been named the Stoddard County Activities Association Player of the Year in volleyball and also received all-district and all-state honors this season.

Dexter Statesman/Mike Buhler

Stoddard County volleyball players received a lion’s share of recognition with the release of postseason honors.

Leading the way is a quartet of all-state players — the Advance trio of Addi Carlton, Emma Eilers and Brogan Hawkins, plus Bernie’s Bailey Henry — who helped their teams make deep postseason runs.

A repeat all-stater, Carlton was the lone senior on an Advance squad which reached the state championship game for the sixth time in the last seven year and finished the season with 428 kills and 422 digs to average a double-double in both categories.

Eilers, who like Carlton was a repeat all-stater, finished the season with 80 aces and 210 kills, while Hawkins, a defensive standout, led the Hornets with 435 digs on the season and added 54 aces at the service line.

Meanwhile, Henry finished with 410 kills, 228 digs and 63 aces and was a big factor in Bernie’s run to the Class 1 quarterfinals this season.

Those four players also earned all-Stoddard County Activities Association honors, as did also Mollie Mannon of Bell City, Bernie’s Rylie Powell, Abbigail Heaton from Bloomfield, the Dexter duo of Kate Nichols and Cali White, and Mallary Barks of Woodland.

Carlton was named the SCAA Player of the Year, the first time she has won in that sport after winning POY in softball the last three years, while Hawkins was named the SCAA Defensive Player of the Year and Advance coach Erin Hoffman was named the SCAA Coach of the Year.

MORE ALL-CONFERENCE HONORS

Three Dexter players were honored when the SEMO North Conference recently released its all-conference squad.

Two Dexter players — Nichols and White — earned first-team all-conference honors, while Avery Riley was named second-team all-conference

Jackson senior Katy St. John was named the SEMO North Player of the Year, while Jackson coach Dave Mirly was named the SEMO North Coach of the Year.

Meanwhile, Puxico had three players named to the first-ever all-Ozark Foothills Conference squad as Laney Porter, Ziyi Boyco and Hanna Wilson all were honored. Additionally, Puxico head coach Paige Mays was named the OFC Coach of the Year after leading the Lady Indians to the conference championship.

ALL-DISTRICT HONORS

Several Dexter and Advance players also were named all-district in their respective districts.

Leading the way for Dexter were first-team all-district selections Kate Nichols and Cali White, while Avery Riley and Karis Kennedy were named second-team all-district and Klaire Essner received honorable mention.

For Advance, Carlton, Eilers, Hawkins, Olivia Kennedy and Cashlynn Sturgeon were named all-district in Class 1 District 3.