North Tama head volleyball coach Channing Halstead, left, provides direction to members of her team including starters Grace Kennedy and Kruiz Ewoldt (second and third from left) during practice on Aug. 15 in the high school gymnasium in Traer. The Redhawks – three-time state qualifiers, all under Halstead – were ranked No. 4 in the state in Class 1A by The Gazette newspaper as part of its preseason rankings published last week. Halstead, now in her 11th year of coaching at North Tama, has built her powerhouse team mostly from the ground up and is hoping for a first time appearance at the state tournament finals this season. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

TRAER – As she enters her 11th season as head North Tama volleyball coach, Channing Halstead is poised, ready, determined, hungry – all the adjectives – to take her girls to the pinnacle this year for the first time in school history by playing for the Class 1A state tournament championship. And her girls are ready.

“I would say she’s a lot more passionate than a lot of other coaches. No one compares to Channing. She knows this game really, really well,” senior Zoey Rausch said as she stood in the doorway of North Tama’s humid high school gym in Traer last Thursday afternoon while taking a brief break from practice alongside her friend and fellow senior Grace Kennedy.

It’s no secret Halstead knows this game. After graduating from nearby Vinton-Shellsburg, she went on to play collegiate volleyball for Wartburg – ending her senior season there in 2009 as Defensive Player of the Year by notching 774 digs, a record which still stands as third-highest in a single-season for the Knights.

After graduating later that school year with a degree in music education, Halstead (née Merchant) accepted her current position as North Tama’s band instructor and seemingly never looked back. Her tenure with the Redhawk volleyball program — begun under head coach Stan Upah — kicked off shortly after her hire date. She took over the program a couple seasons later.

In the 11 years since taking the reins, Halstead’s teams have left a blazing trail of glory for aspiring future varsity players to follow – putting North Tama squarely on the 1A map of powerhouse teams.

Redhawk volleyball head coach Channing Halstead, center on box, observes as players run lines during practice on Aug. 15 in the high school gym in Traer. Halstead is entering her 11th season as head coach at North Tama. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Under Halstead, the Redhawks have claimed the Iowa Star South conference title multiple times beginning in the 2017 season. The team finished the 2018 regular season with more than 20 wins for the first time in school history. The following year – again for the first time in school history – North Tama claimed the regional championship and thereby qualified for the state tournament, making it all the way to the Class 1A state semifinals where they lost to Sidney 3-1. Following a rebuilding year in 2020, the team again claimed the regional championship and headed to the state tournament before falling again in the semifinals, this time to Springville 3-0.

In 2022, the team accumulated a whopping 40 wins along with the Class 1A Region 4 Championship and a third trip to state where they lost to AGWSR in the quarterfinals.

Last season, the team seemed on the cusp again, ready to make their fourth trip to the state tournament after jumping from No. 15 in the IGHSAU Class 1A preseason rankings to third and then second by the start of the season. But in a heartbreaking twist, the Redhawks’ lost, 3-0, the Class 1A Region 7 championship game to rival Don Bosco while playing at Halstead’s alma mater in Vinton – a game many from her childhood had turned out to watch.

For their part, Rausch and Kennedy firmly believe the 2024-25 season is the season the Redhawks get.it.done and make it to the final night of the state tournament – proving once and for all, the program their beloved coach set out to build practically from scratch more than a decade ago can summit.

The season ahead

Redhawk junior Kruiz Ewoldt (center), a starting outside hitter, practices a serve alongside her teammates during practice last week in the high school gym in Traer. Ewoldt was a first-team all-conference pick last season, earning the No. 3 spot in Class 1A for kills with 399. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

This season, the Redhawks’ roster boasts five seniors, having lost just one starter last year to graduation, Izzy Hallett. One of those seniors, outside hitter Briar Blake, returns to the starting line after being sidelined by injury last year.

In addition to Rausch (setter), Kennedy (defensive specialist), and Blake, senior players also include Faith Dvorak (middle hitter) and Kylie Calderwood (defensive specialist/outside hitter).

Juniors Addy Hochstetler (libero) and Kruiz Ewoldt (outside hitter) are also returning – both were named last season to the Iowa Star Conference All-South first team.

The 2024-25 roster also features juniors Cayleigh Heller and Adi Fuller, sophomores Kahlia Even, Madelyn Kucera, Jessica Morrison, Haydn Wilson, and Olivia Youngblood, and freshmen Shawna Cibula, Izzy Gropper, and Lily Sell.

As senior members likely to be picked as captains this week, Rausch and Kennedy pointed to their team’s chemistry as one of the reasons they feel they’ll make it to the state finals this year.

North Tama head volleyball coach Channing Halstead, center, speaks to some of her girls last week Thursday during practice in the high school gym in Traer. The Redhawks have qualified for the state tournament three times in school history – all under Hasltead who is in her 11th year as head coach – and are looking to make even more school history by making it to the final championship game this season. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“We have really good team chemistry,” Kennedy said. “We hear about a lot of teams that have drama [but] our connections are very strong.”

Both players pointed to their coaches – including assistant coach Karisa Kladivo – as the main driver behind the team’s cohesiveness.

“[Coach Halstead] loves us,” Rausch said. “She stands up for us no matter what.”

“[Coach Kladivo] definitely keeps the mood up when Channing is really frustrated with us,” Kennedy added of their assistant coach who is also North Tama’s high school math teacher. “We all support each other all year long. We see each other more than we see our parents sometimes but it’s always fun to practice with your best friends.”

The senior duo then addressed the team’s goals – or goal – this season.

North Tama head volleyball coach Channing Halstead bends down to field a question from her son Gabe during practice last week Thursday in the high school gym in Traer. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

“Our’s is state finals,” Rausch said, definitively. “Channing firmly believes it, too.”

“I think she’s the best coach out there,” Kennedy said. “She definitely doesn’t get the recognition she deserves. I mean, she spends all of her free time with us. She brings her kids here. Her whole family is here.”

To prove Kennedy’s point, at various times during the 90 minutes the Telegraph observed the team’s practice last Thursday, both of Halstead’s elementary-aged children were present in and around the gym, seamlessly interacting with their mom when they needed something. But this is nothing new for Halstead as the team’s culture has always been family-oriented due to the district being centered in a tight knit, rural community. Driving that point home, Calderwood, Ewoldt, and Rausch are all playing this season in their older sisters’ footsteps.

This past week, The Gazette released its 2024 high school volleyball preseason rankings placing North Tama at No. 4 after the team did not even crack the top-10 last preseason.

Ahead of North Tama, Holy Trinity Catholic (2023 state runner-up) was ranked at No. 3, River Valley at No. 2, and the 2023 state champions, Ankeny Christian, at No. 1. The newspaper ranked nearby Gladbrook-Reinbeck at No. 6 and Redhawk rival Don Bosco at No. 8.

Redhawk junior Kruiz Ewoldt (center), a starting outside hitter, listens to Coach Channing Halstead (off frame) provide guidance during practice last week in the high school gym in Traer. Ewoldt was a first-team all-conference pick last season, earning the No. 3 spot in Class 1A for kills with 399. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

It would seem it’s not just folks in Traer and the surrounding community banking on the Redhawks’ potential this season.

Back in the fall of 2019 – prior to the start of the Redhawks’ record-breaking postseason – Coach Halstead told the Telegraph, “My dream has always been to build a program and they’ve let me do that.”

She then echoed those sentiments again a few years later in 2022 when she told the Telegraph, “There’s a tradition brewing.”

So what’s on tap for the Redhawks this season? Something good certainly and, hopefully, unprecedented.

The 20240-25 Iowa high school volleyball season untaps next week on Tuesday, Aug. 27, with the Redhawks heading to Wapsie Valley High School in Fairbank where they’ll take on Maquoketa Valley, Wapsie Valley, and Gladbrook-Reinbeck. The first match begins at 5 p.m.

North Tama’s first home match is set for a week later on Tuesday, Sept. 3, against Valley Lutheran.

Seniors Zoey Rausch, left, and Grace Kennedy - both returning starters this season - smile for a quick photo in the doorway of the North Tama High School gym last Thursday during practice. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

North Tama junior Addy Hochstetler calls a ball out of bounds last Thursday during practice in the high school gym in Traer. Hochstetler, the team’s libero, was a first-team all-conference pick last season, earning the No. 4 spot in Class 1A for digs with 519. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

Senior defensive specialist/outside hitter Kylie Calderwood pictured during practice last week Thursday. Calderwood is one of Class 1A's most efficient and successful servers. PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER

PHOTO BY RUBY F. MCALLISTER