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CISSNA PARK — Anyone who knows Addison Lucht wouldn’t be surprised by how she reacted to winning The News-Gazette’s All-Area Volleyball Player of the Year honor.

“It’s a reflection of our whole team and what we were able to accomplish in this amazing season,” Lucht said. “I wouldn’t have been able to get that award or do what I’ve done without the team, how close we are and how much we push each other every day in practice. We’re in there grinding and making each other better. Even the people who don’t get the time on the court, they’re on the bench cheering us on really loud every game and working us really hard in practice on the other side of the net. I’m really excited and honored to receive this, but it goes right back to my teammates. I wouldn’t have been able to do it without them.”

Same humble nature she’s always had, redirecting all the praise despite deserving every bit of it. Just once, you might expect her to give herself some props. Maybe even brag a little. She’s earned that.

But take it from senior teammates Sophie Duis.

“She won’t,” Duis said with a smirk.

Lucht just wrapped up her final volleyball season at Cissna Park and couldn’t have ended it any better. She led the Timberwolves to a program-record 40 wins and a Class 1A state championship, the first state title for the school in any sport. She earned a third consecutive All-State First-Team honor and was the 1A state finals MVP. She totaled 202 digs and 48 aces to go along with her team-high 339 kills, which brought her to 1,359 for her career to become the program’s all-time kills leader.

The argument that Cissna Park doesn’t reach three straight state tournaments without Lucht is a valid one. Although, Duis and Josie Neukomm — both All-State Second-Team selections and All-Area First-Team picks in their own right — among other strong talents, might prove that theory wrong. Regardless, it’s never been about the individual accolades for Lucht. All she cared about was the team, which is why the team was so successful.

“Having had a month to reflect on it, it’s beginning to set in how big of a thing we just accomplished,” Lucht said. “It keeps getting cooler and cooler by the day. To know we did that and were able to end our last game and my volleyball career on a win on the biggest stage is amazing.”

It’s one of the many reasons she’s so popular among her teammates. She’s one of the best athletes in Illinois, an All-State talent in four different sports, but she wants no part of the spotlight. Ironic that the biggest moments are when she shines brightest.

“She’s very humble, and everything she does goes unnoticed,” Neukomm said. “She’s been working her butt off since day one. Everything she has coming is extremely deserved. I don’t think there’s a single thing she doesn’t deserve. She’s just an amazing person, and seeing the path she’s going on is really exciting.”

As if all her athletic abilities weren’t enough, Lucht is also the valedictorian of her class at Cissna Park.

“A lot of people look at her and think it’s just a lot of natural talent,” Duis said. “Obviously, there is a lot of that, but a large part of it is the hard work she puts in behind the scenes. She’s a really good on- and off-the-court leader, and she’s super fun to have as a friend and teammate.”

And for Cissna Park volleyball coach and athletic director Josh Landon, “I could just say ‘Ditto.’

“I could go back and say it started in kindergarten watching them in PE,” Landon said. “I had all these girls from kindergarten through fourth grade for elementary PE, and you could see a little bit of that competitiveness happening. You’d have tears from some people because we weren’t winning or others weren’t trying as hard. You could see all this happening. There is the God-given talent, but you also have to buy in to reach that success.”

This is actually the second All-Area Player of the Year honor Lucht has earned, but the first was for basketball after leading the Timberwolves back to CEFCU Arena and winning their second 1A third-place trophy in as many seasons.

Two days after winning the volleyball title on Nov. 15, Lucht and Co. played their first basketball game, a 64-14 win against St. Thomas More. Lucht put up 20 points, seven steals and four assists in the winning effort, and she hasn’t needed to knock off any rust in another strong start to that sport.

Neither are Lucht’s top sport, however. While simultaneously placing fifth and eighth in last spring’s 1A state triple jump and long jump competition, she batted .579 with seven home runs for the Milford/Cissna Park co-op softball team. She signed her letter of intent to continue her softball career at Northwestern on Nov. 12.

“I’ve always loved every single sport I’ve been in, and what sport I’m in, that’s my favorite at the time,” Lucht said. “Being able to have these special seasons and do it with these girls is amazing. I’m not going on to college to play those sports, and I’m going to miss them a lot, but I’m excited to get up to Evanston and excited for this spring at Milford.”

Amber McKean won the All-Area Player of the Year award back in 2003 for the Cissna Park/Crescent-Iroquois co-op, and she went on to have a successful volleyball career at Olivet Nazarene. Landon said nobody believed anyone like her would come through their town of fewer than 800 again.

Plenty of talented athletes have played for Cissna Park since then but none quite like Lucht. Not with the same level of ability, passion and dedication to that many sports. And certainly not with the same level of care off the court. She was already a champion. Now, she has the trophy to go along with it.

“I hope we’re just getting started,” Lucht said. “I’m in the thick of it right now, and I’m so locked in and focused that I don’t think it’s ever going to end. It’s tough to realize these are some of the last games I’ll get to play in a Cissna Park jersey. It’s kind of surreal. I’m really fortunate that our volleyball season ended in the best way possible, and I’m hoping the same for basketball and the spring sports. I’m happy to get off to a really good start. Hopefully, it can end strong, too.”

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The halls at Jackson County High School are growing busier each year, and so is the volleyball court.

As the county’s population surges, more students are filling classrooms, lockers and tryout lists. The squeak of sneakers and the thud of volleyballs echo through the gym as coaches call out drills, a reflection of how fast the community and its competition are growing.

With more players trying out than ever, coaches and athletes have had to adjust to a more selective environment that’s reshaping team dynamics. As the Panthers close the book on their season, which included a second-round playoff run for the second straight year, Laura Keefer is already reflecting on what she learned in her first year leading the program.

“So when I came for tryouts in May, we had 72 girls here for tryouts, and that was a lot,” Keefer said. “I’ve been at a smaller private school for the past nine years, but even when I talked to other friends in public high schools and I told them how many girls we had, they said that’s a really big number, too.”

Over the past decade, Jackson County has been one of Georgia’s fastest-growing areas. The high school, which opened in 2021 to accommodate the surge in population, has already hit capacity. Public development director Jamie Dove said the county’s growth is fueled by its location and livability.

“There are just a lot of things to drive people here,” Dove said. Jackson County is an interstate drive away from Atlanta and Greenville, S.C., “and I’m a day trip to the beach and a two-hour drive to the mountains. So it’s a gem of a location.”

Jackson County’s population jumped from 75,907 in 2020 to an estimated 93,825 in 2024, according to the development department. 

For two years in a row now, we have been the fourth-fastest-growing county in the country,” Dove said.

At Jackson County High, that growth has led to what students call “learning cottages,” temporary classrooms used to handle overflow. Siena Berthold, a senior at Jackson County and member of the volleyball team, mentioned this.

“They’re called learning cottages,” Berthold said, “but they’re not learning cottages — they’re trailers.”

Keefer brought two decades of experience from smaller schools and club teams to Jackson County High’s volleyball program. Now that the season is over, Keefer said the tryout and cut process is still on her mind, especially as she thinks ahead to next year.

“The positive side of that is I had a lot of talent in the gym to choose from,” Keefer said. “The hard part is I don’t think everybody realizes it’s truly a gut-wrenching process for me. I had to cut a lot of talent.”

For players, the population boom means that earning a jersey is no longer guaranteed. The competition drives everyone to push harder and succeed.  

​​“It’s just a great group because everyone wants to play volleyball,” Berthold said. “You have more competition, so everyone wants to play better.”

The volleyball team’s rise mirrors growing community pride. Home matches now draw bigger crowds. Jackson County Schools have also made athletic and academic expansion a strategic priority.

“Our board of education does a great job of letting us hire earlier than other school systems,” Hooper said. “It’s a daily tracking of enrollment, and for human resources, it’s a daily tracking of students.”

So far, the volleyball program has not faced gym or scheduling conflicts with other sports. Keefer said the athletic department’s collaboration has been essential to that success.

Our administration does a fantastic job and really all of our teams together,” Keefer said. “We support each other.”

As Jackson County prepares to open Hoschton High School in 2027 to accommodate population growth, the volleyball program at Jackson County High School may eventually face a split, with players and families drawn toward the new school. This shift could reshape existing rivalries and create new opportunities for athletes across the county.

After one season coaching in Jackson County, Keefer said she now better understands how deep that talent pool runs, and how a future school could split and reshape it. 

“I imagine most of the upperclassmen would stay and want to finish out and graduate where they’ve been,” Keefer said. “As far as the long term, obviously the pool of talent like we’ve had these huge numbers coming in right, that’s going to be divided now.”

Ellie English is a student in the undergraduate certificate program at the Carmical Sports Media Institute at UGA. 

 

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Since the NCAA began sanctioning a national championship in women’s volleyball in 1981, there have been six occasions in which the teams competing for the title were from the same conference. On Sunday, the seventh such match will happen.

Kentucky faces Texas A&M for the championship on Sunday (3:30 p.m. ET, ABC), making it an all-Southeastern Conference battle for the title. The previous such occurrences were in 1981 (USC vs. UCLA), 1984 (Stanford vs. UCLA), 1992 (Stanford vs. UCLA), 1994 (Stanford vs. UCLA), 2002 (USC vs. Stanford) and 2021 (Wisconsin vs. Nebraska).

This is a significant accomplishment for the SEC. Until this year, the conference only had three appearances in the championship match ever. Florida made it in 2003 and 2017, finishing as runner-up both times. Kentucky won the NCAA title in 2020. But this year, the conference was strong, with three teams in the Elite Eight and two in the Final Four, both of whom ultimately ended up in the title match. UK head coach Craig Skinner is not surprised that two SEC teams are in the finals.

“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that two SEC teams are playing for the national championship,” Skinner said. “The coaches in our league have worked incredibly hard to put ourselves on the map and to make the SEC a volleyball powerhouse. I also need to give credit to all the coaches and the grassroots of the Southeastern Conference to make that happen.”

Skinner saluted his fellow SEC volleyball coaches, who have improved their programs, making the conference schedule a true gauntlet.

“Kudos to the SEC and the coaches in our league for getting our conference in the position to be an elite league in the sport of volleyball in the NCAA,” Skinner said. “Proud to be part of Kentucky and the Southeastern Conference.”

Texas A&M head coach Jamie Morrison believes that a tough SEC regular season, followed by a conference tournament, has prepared these two teams to be in this position.

“We’re one of the most prepared teams in the country,” Morrison said. “Kentucky is the same way because they had the same path. I think it’s really good for our conference.”

The Cats and Aggies met on Oct. 8 in College Station. In that match, Texas A&M won the first set, but Kentucky rallied to win the last three to claim the victory. Eva Hudson had 24 kills and Brooklyn DeLeye had 19 for the Cats, who hit .293 in the match. Logan Lednicky had 21 kills for the Aggies and Kyndal Stowers added 13. Kentucky junior Asia Thigpen remembers that match, but also realizes that both teams have evolved since then.

“We beat them, but they had a really good offensive night,” Thigpen said. “That’s what we remember. We’ve seen their matches versus Louisville and Nebraska, just like their big block presence. They’ve grown as a team since then. We have, too.”

Kentucky freshman setter Kassie O’Brien echoed her teammate’s thoughts.

“Yes, we’ve played them in the past. Like we said earlier, both teams are completely different now,” O’Brien said. “A&M is playing really good volleyball, but so are we. It’s just going to be a great match and I’m looking forward to it.”

On Sunday in Kansas City, the SEC will make history and Kentucky hopes to bring a second national championship home to Lexington.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The No. 3 seed Texas A&M volleyball team squares off with No. 1 seed Kentucky in the NCAA Tournament National Championship Sunday afternoon at the T-Mobile Center with first serve set for 2:30 p.m.
 

The Aggies kept their historic campaign alive after downing their second-straight No. 1 seed in the Pitt Panthers to book their spot in the program’s first national final. The Maroon & White battled into extras to take the opener (29-27), then followed on with a dominant showing in sets two (25-21) and three (25-20) to secure their 17th sweep of the year.
 

Texas A&M’s offense fired on all cylinders thanks to the direction of Maddie Waak. The setter dished 48 assists in the contest which was a postseason program record in a three-set match during the rally-scoring era. Waak’s pins delivered the blows as Kyndal Stowers and Logan Lednicky accounted for 30 kills with 16 and 14, respectively. The team’s efficiency stood out on the box score, as the group hit at .382 which marked the 13th time over .300 this season.
 
On the defensive end the nation’s premier middle blocker, Ifenna Cos-Okpalla, continued to be a force at the net, recording five blocks in the contest which marked her fifth-straight game with five or more and 19th this season.
 
The Matchup

Sunday’s contest between Texas A&M and Kentucky will be the first the 28th all-time meeting between the teams. The Wildcats hold a 17-10 advantage in the series, however the Maroon & White are 2-0 when the team’s meet on a neutral court.
 
Kentucky has claimed the last four battles between the teams, including a four-set affair in Reed Arena this season which was the Aggies’ only conference loss on the year.
 

Looking at the stat sheet, the Maroon & White lead Kentucky in four of the seven team statistical categories including hitting percentage, opponent hitting percentage, aces per set and blocks per set, while the Wildcats have the advantage in kills per set, assists per set and digs per set.
 
Tracks and Trends
Logan Lednicky has recorded double-digit kills in her last 22 matches and passed Hollann Hans for the rally-scoring kills record and ranks third overall in career kills at Texas A&M.
 
Ifenna Cos-Okpalla has logged five or more blocks in her last six games and is one blocks away from tying the program record for career blocks of 562. She is also five blocks from reaching 200 on the year.
 

Texas A&M became just the third No. 3 seed in NCAA Tournament history to dispatch two No. 1 seeds, joining UCLA in 2011 and Nebraska in 2021.
 
Streaming & Stats
Fans can watch the match on the ABC and follow stats on 12thman.com.
 
Follow the Aggies
Visit 12thMan.com for more information on Texas A&M volleyball. Fans can keep up to date with the A&M volleyball team on Facebook, Instagram and on Twitter by following @AggieVolleyball.

It’s been a crazy three days for the Wisconsin Badgers. On Thursday, they had a heartbreaking loss to the Kentucky Wildcats in the NCAA National Semifinal. On Friday, they lost five players to the transfer portal.

Well, on Saturday, amid all the portal craziness, Wisconsin landed a commitment from Florida Gators transfer middle blocker Jaela Auguste, she announced.

Auguste, a sophomore this past season, had a great season, earning the following accolades after the season: AVCA Third Team All-American, AVCA Southeast Region First Team, All-SEC First Team, and SEC Preseason All-SEC Team.

She averaged 2.69 kills and 0.98 blocks per set for the Gators in 2025.

Wisconsin was likely to make an addition at middle blocker, as they’re losing starters Carter Booth and Alicia Andrew to eligibility, creating a hole in the middle. Additionally, redshirt freshman Tosia Serafinowska is entering the transfer portal, taking away some depth at the position.

With a loaded freshman class, it’s unclear how busy the Badgers will be in the transfer portal after a strong class last year, as they have Grace Lopez returning from injury. But, they quickly moved to get a big commitment from Auguste.