DCG volleyball ranked 9th as sophomore stars return

The Mustangs hardly missed a step last year in spite of some major blows to the depth chart. But this year, Dallas Center-Grimes hopes to do more than keep the status quo, looking to rally around a hungry, young roster.

That potential has not gone unnoticed throughout the state, as the Mustangs are attached the No. 9 ranking in the preseason Class 4A rankings, putting them in contention for the Little Hawkeye race, ranked directly ahead of Norwalk and Pella but below 5A’s Indianola.

And the season has started on solid ground, with the Mustangs sweeping their five-team invite on Tuesday night with wins over Valley (2-1), Ballard (2-0), Mason City (2-0) and Greene County (2-0).

A Look Back to Move Forward

Last season was just a couple of moments away from the Mustangs earning a seat at the state tournament, with DCG falling at the hands of ADM in the regional championship 3-1, with each match falling within four points. Just as momentum was shifting to the Mustangs’ direction, the Tigers found a way to steal it back.

That hasn’t left this team’s mind. And with plenty of the roster back in action this year, it’s an active motivator that has the Mustangs reaching for new heights.

“We’ve avoid the difficult parts of what we struggle with for far too long and so we talk a lot about saying things out loud,” head coach Meg Jackson said following Tuesday’s four wins. “We want state semifinals. We don't want that ADM game ever again. So I think the more we speak it, the more we get comfortable with really competing and not being scared of it.”

Sophomore Power

As the team lost its leading assist and scoring pieces from 2022, the Mustangs found themselves looking for replacements. And in their place, DCG found four years of possibilities in the form of Maggie Leifker and Gwen Farley who led the team in kills and assists, respectively. With a year under their belt, Jackson is excited to see what more they can accomplish on the floor- each also led the team in aces as servers as well, providing additional depth.

The team’s setter, Farley was described by Jackson as a “grinder” that outworks anyone on the floor, joking that the cleanup crew was working to mop up her sweat on the floor. “She just keeps maturing and we talked about her decision-making. It’s just starting to click more and more and that helps us throw off defenses.”

Also hoping to keep defenses on their toes, Jackson said, is moving Leifker from middle over to right hitter.

“Her court vision is very good and that comes with being a middle, but also with her playing a lot of volleyball and being very experienced. So we’ll utilizer her a little bit in both,” Jackson mentioned.

Finding New Roles

While the team looks to have a couple of cornerstones between Leifker and Farley, there are significant changes with the leaders like Addy Jassen and Anna Cantrell gone. But year-over-year, Jackson said this year’s roster feels more confident and improved, gaining some new freshmen to help out on the defensive side of play and role players like Jacey McFarland hopping in for more significant playing time — hoping to keep momentum up.

“We’ve been preaching this year that we want to stay at a high level and keep climbing so that becomes our new normal,” Jackson said. “We’ve talked about peaks and valleys and that the valley have to be very brief and the peaks need to stay as long as they can.”

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: DCG volleyball ranked 9th as sophomore stars return