Liberos may play the most unglamorous position in volleyball. Their primary responsibility is to play defense and dig the ball from the back row to the setter.
As Brainerd Warriors coach Jared Diem has said, "Liberos in general often are overlooked and underappreciated."
That's why Diem appreciates the night-in, night-out solid effort that junior libero Maddy Stall exhibits. In six matches last week, Stall collected 142 digs and contributed nine ace serves.
"She just was consistent at a high level," Diem said. "Rarely does she have a down game. Defensively you can have a bad pass here or there but Maddy's the one I want touching the ball all the time. I've told the girls in practice let Maddy take the ball. She's the one I want touching the ball 100 percent of the time if possible. She's just that good."
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Maddy Stall
- Sport: Volleyball
- Position: Libero
- Year: Junior
- Age: 16
- Height: 5-4
- Other sports: Basketball, softball
- Career highlight: Making varsity volleyball team as eighth-grader
- Favorite class: English
- Favorite food: Mashed potatoes
- Favorite movie: "Miracle"
- Favorite website: "Instagram"
- Future plans: Play college volleyball or softball
- Parents: Scott and Carla Stall
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Stall's solid effort at the Farmington Tournament earned her all-tournament honors.
"I thought I played really well," Stall said. "The first game was kind of rough for our team. I try to be a leader and get everyone up. When I made the all-tournament team I was surprised because there were a lot of girls there who worked just as hard as I did. I honestly didn't know that was coming."
Her performance at Farmington, and all season long, should come as no surprise. Stall has been on the varsity since eighth grade. Last year she led the Central Lakes Conference in digs and received honorable mention all-conference honors.
An example of her hard work and consistency occurred against Willmar as she recorded 32 digs and six ace serves.
"She was to the point of exhaustion at end of the game. That's how hard she was working," Diem said. "There were a lot of hard hits too, but she just stops the ball.
"The way she has elevated her game this year is she reads really well. Before she was fitting in where the defense was. Now where a ball goes that's where she goes. Now she's reading and anticipating where the ball is being hit by the block or the tendency of hitters she's playing against. That's kind of why she's just been such a stud this year.
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"All the coaches I talk to at the end of games and our coaching staff talks a lot about Maddy and how she makes our offense and defense so much better."
Stall been around the volleyball virtually her entire life. Her mother, Carla, formerly was the Warriors' head coach. She currently is an assistant coach.
"She told me when I was a baby she would bring me to her games," Maddy said of her mom. "When I was about 6 or 7 I fell in love with it. I would just sit and watch and try to absorb everything I could from the girls."
The junior also has benefited from three previous of years of varsity experience.
"In eighth grade, I didn't really know what I was doing. I didn't know my space on the floor," Stall said. "I think I've come really far since then. My passes are really good now and I've started to read the hitters."
Serving is another area of the game at which Stall contributes. She has smacked 15 aces this season and sports a serve percentage of 85.3. Diem says she's one of the team's top servers since most of her serves are in bounds and over the net.
"I've had a lot of girls who were good servers but you ran the risk of having errors," Diem said. "Maddy doesn't make errors a lot and serves aggressively.
"First and foremost she's a great kid. She works hard in practice. She's her own worst critic. She's one of those kids who takes mistakes on the court to heart. She thinks it's her responsibility all the time.
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"She's one of the great kids we have in our volleyball program. So far she's the best defender I've ever coached."
Other notable efforts:
• Katie Streiff, swimming, won two events and was on two winning relays vs. Sauk Rapids and at the Park Rapids Invite.
• Hannah McKeag, swimming, won two events and was on a winning relay vs. Sauk Rapids and won two individual events and was on two winning relays at Park Rapids.
• Bryn Waters, girls soccer, scored two goals vs Tech and had hat tricks vs. Apollo and Willmar.
• Mitch Rahn, football, rushed for 103 yards and two TDs vs. Alexandria.
• Paul Augustinack, football, rushed for 111 yards and caught a TD pass vs. Alexandria.
• Josh Howieson, football, has recovered two fumbles and intercepted a pass in last two games.
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MIKE BIALKA may be reached at mike.bialka@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5861. Follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bertsballpark .
