Catholic junior Mia Kinney doesn’t mind playing out of her club and college position for the Lady Irish volleyball team.

She is an offensive force as an outside hitter and is a six-rotation player for Catholic.

Yet Kinney will play defense in college, signing scholarship papers to play libero or defensive specialist at Vanderbilt.

And that’s her focus during Catholic’s offseason for volleyball, which is in-season for Kinney at K2 Volleyball.

“I’m just trying to get a little bit more polished in my libero position,” said Kinney, the 2025 5Star Preps Volleyball Player of the Year, “just because pretty much my entire volleyball career I’ve just been doing different things, and just playing whatever (position) my team needs me to.”

Her versatility and talent were a big reason Catholic (25-10) had another big season in 2025.

Kinney combined powerful hitting (332 kills) with her setting (68 assists), defense (239 digs), serving (72 aces), and excellent passing in leading the Lady Irish to the Division II-AA Final Four.

Catholic coach Brent Carter said he’s able to use Kinney’s versatility because his senior libero, Nora James, has similar talents like Kinney.

“We get creative and move our libero around because our libero (James) is also a very skilled player,” Carter said. “Sometimes, our libero is playing left-back defense and sometimes she’s playing middle-back defense, so it gives us a nuance to where we put Mia, and it gives us an attacking threat out of the back row.”

Kinney’s passing is uncanny, too, and it was on full display at the state tournament, where the Lady Irish endured an emotional rollercoaster.

Catholic staved off elimination with a 3-0 victory over Chattanooga Baylor on Oct. 21 in their second Final Four match of the day, then lost on Oct. 22 to Christ Presbyterian Academy of Nashville by a 3-0 set score.

In the loss to CPA, Kinney’s passing rating was 2.82 on the 3.0 scale used for volleyball passing statistics; Carter raved about her passing in the season ending match.

“To knock Baylor out in a sweep was like a big deal to our kids emotionally,” Carter said, “and we just could not get it together against CPA. We needed to be passing well like we normally pass, and we just weren’t, but Kinney still passed a .282 in that match. And a .282 is best in the world. It’s unbelievable.”

Kinney transferred to Catholic from Baylor before the 2024-25 school year, earning All-5Star Preps first-team honors as the Lady Irish reached the state sectionals (quarterfinals).

Her sister, Elli, and brother, Cooper, are graduates of Baylor.

Elli (2023 Baylor graduate) is a junior libero for Vanderbilt’s volleyball team and Cooper (2021 Baylor graduate) is an infielder with the Tampa Bay Rays Major League Baseball organization.

Mia’s transfer to Catholic was a natural move because she was playing full-time with K2 Volleyball while attending Baylor in Chattanooga.

“It’s helped me out in so many different ways, and I’m really glad we made that decision,” she said of going to Catholic.

Kinney committed to Vanderbilt on June 15 of this year. While Elli was influential in Mia’s decision, she didn’t push Mia toward Vanderbilt.

“She loves it (Vanderbilt), and she just really helped me out through the whole recruiting process,” Mia said. “She didn’t pressure me in any way at all, but she was just there and really helpful for me. She really loves Vandy and I kind of got to see the inside scoop of that, so it was a pretty easy decision for me.”

Kinney said the 2025 season was a thrill for her and the Lady Irish, and she looks forward to another postseason run in 2026.

“I think there’s a bit of a reputation for volleyball at Catholic,” Kinney said.

Carter expects Kinney to take another critical role next season. He said Kinney is the most competitive player he’s coached in almost 10 years, when he coached Kamila Cieslik, a 2017 Catholic graduate who played five years at Rutgers.

“Nobody anywhere competes like (Kinney), and it’s mostly with herself,” Carter said. “She wants to be better every single time she touches the ball, and we haven’t had a kid like her since Kamila Cieslik, in 2016. Just a died-in-the-wool competitor, and here’s the thing nobody would question: She is the team leader.

“After every point, she is the one saying the right things, doing the right things. What she and I spent the most time on was how to handle those situations, and the management of each kid, how they needed to be managed out on the floor. So not only was it a players’ team instead of just a coaches’ team, and it was great.”

Article written by Dave Link/5Star Preps. To read more on area high school sports or to see photo galleries, videos, stat leaders, etc., visit 5StarPreps.com — and use promo code New2025 for 30% off your first year or month subscription.

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Avery Elizabeth Merritt, born Feb. 27, 2009, embodied the best parts of all of us. The beloved daughter to Russell Merritt and Tina Dombroski, younger sister to Jackson Merritt and Nathan Young, and cherished granddaughter to Janice Merritt, journeyed beyond this world Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025.

Avery was the glue that connected our lives. She saw through pretenses and offered advice with a depth of insight and clarity far beyond her 16 years.

Her natural creativity was boundless, and throughout her life, she produced incredible sketches, paintings, sculpture, jewelry, clothing, written stories, and culinary delights. Her attention to detail was evident in everything she did, completing even the simplest tasks with an artistic whimsy or a deeply thoughtful purpose.

Avery had a profound love for animals and was pursuing a future in veterinary medicine. She devotedly cared for her dog Lucy, her cats River Forrest and Terra, and her hamster Seuss. Her “heart horse” was Miley, with whom she shared an incredible bond of loving, trust and understanding. Together, they had become a fearless duo completing high jumps, courses, and liberty work. Avery competed in many equestrian shows and received numerous ribbons and accolades. 

Avery’s natural curiosity of the world around her also included plants and herbology. She often grew plants from clippings or seeds to create natural products and art, many times drawing her inspiration from Native American culture.

Avery loved an engaging story and enjoyed reading books, listening to podcasts about a wide range of topics from true crime to indie music to survivalism. She was a true aficionado of SpongeBob SquarePants as well as the Breaking Bad series.  Despite living in an age of online content, she had an innate ability to remain connected in the present moment. To say she was nonconformist by nature would be an understatement. She was a truly special person in so many ways but did not like to receive attention for her exceptionalism. She was also academically gifted, excelling in all subjects, especially math, science, and literature.  

Avery also shared a love for volleyball and grew her skills while playing for Premier travel teams, Sandsharks beach team and Sussex Technical High School. The friendships she gained through these leagues were meaningful to her, and the shared experiences of victory, loss, and growth made a great positive influence in her life

Avery was taken from this world far too early, leaving before her full potential was ever realized. Her family will never allow the beauty of her life to be overshadowed by the tragedy of her death and will honor her with every beat of their collectively heavy hearts.

A viewing will be held from 10 a.m. to noon, Tuesday, Jan. 6, at Watson Funeral Home and Crematorium, 211 S. Washington St., Millsboro. A funeral service will follow at noon. Burial will be private. 

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Avery’s name to feast-ed.org, an organization dedicated to bringing awareness and support to loved ones suffering from the illness of an eating disorder.  

Visit Avery’s Life Tribute webpage and sign her online guest book at watsonfh.com.

Two of the most successful high school volleyball coaches in northeastern South Dakota, Rosemary Bellum of Watertown and Nancy Hoeke of Milbank, are stepping down.

Bellum announced her resignation, which is pending approval from the Watertown School Board in January, on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025.

The announcement came a couple of weeks after Hoeke’s resignation was approved by the Milbank School Board on Dec. 8, 2025.

Bellum is the winningest coach in Watertown High School history, leading the Arrows to a 192-80 record in nine seasons. She spent the past 28 years involved in the program either as a head coach or an assistant.

Hoeke spent 35 years as a volleyball coach, including the past 25 as a head coach at Milbank. She is the school’s all-time winningest coach with a career record of 449-279.

Successful run for former Arrow

Bellum, a 1994 Watertown High School graduate, was a member of the Arrows’ state Class AA girls basketball championship team in 1993 and the Arrows’ state Class AA volleyball runner-up team in 1994.

She became the sixth head coach in the history of the program (which began in 1990-91) when she replaced Kim Rohde in April of 2017. Other Watertown coaches and their records with the Arrows include Beth Schutt (139-71-5 in seven seasons), Tiffany Beste (88-69 in seven seasons), Rohde (64-60 in five seasons), Karen Bossman (74-150 in seven seasons) and Jeff Denzer (9-24 in one season).

Up next for voting is volleyball.

Below are the 2025 Athens high school volleyball all-area players, which were hand selected by the coaches. Cast a vote for who you think deserves the ultimate title of “Volleyball Player of the Year.”

The poll will be open until Wednesday, Jan. 7, at 5 p.m.

Athens all-area high school volleyball player of the year poll