2025’s best in area volleyball: Regina’s Reese Naeve and West’s Jaedynn Evans

IOWA CITY — Go ahead. Tell Reese Naeve she’s not tall enough. Not good enough.

She’ll remember.

Every slight leads to another rep in the weight room, another drill in the gym.

Take that second-team all-state selection from 2024, for example. A nice honor, to be sure. Naeve felt she deserved more.

“I’m a firm believer that you give credit where it’s due,” said Naeve, the prolific, powerful outside hitter at Iowa City Regina. “(As a junior), I didn’t get what I was hoping for and expecting, and it was a big letdown.”

No letdown this year. Naeve was one of eight players named to the all-class Elite all-state team. Today, The Gazette honors her as the area player of the year.

“She took it to another level this year,” Regina Coach Lauren Hansen said. “She hit the weight room even harder in the offseason. You see more shots in her toolbox. She realized that you can’t just hit straight down all of the time.”

Official records are sketchy, but Naeve is high — very high — on the state’s all-time career kills list. Her final count of 2,525 terminations, it is believed, ranks in the top five of the rally-scoring era.

Surely, she ranks No. 1 in kills per inch. Naeve is listed at 5 feet, 9 inches.

Naeve was the Regals’ primary attacker since the first match of her freshman year. But there was growth that needed to be made.

“She was so immature, so silly,” Hansen said. “There wasn’t a lot of focus there.”

Naeve added, “I was pretty skilled, but I was still weak. I was on such good club teams, I never had to step outside of my comfort zone.”

Two of Naeve’s top performances came in regional-final matches. As a junior, she blasted 39 kills and hit at a .479 rate in a four-set win over Pella Christian. As a senior, it was 34 kills and .395 in a sweep of Sumner-Fredericksburg.

“When you get to the regional finals, you just don’t want to end your season in a high school gym,” Naeve said.

Naeve, who closed her Regina career with 1,548 digs, 146 aces and 100 blocks, has signed to play at Iowa State University.

“Statistically, people will say I’m too small,” she said. “It’s just another thing that will fuel me.”

Naeve headlines an all-area roster of 15 players. Clear Creek Amana, a Class 4A state semifinalist, has three of them — Emily Henderson, Averie Lower and Bailey Simpson.

The rest of the team consists of Iowa City West’s Sophia Austen, Mid-Prairie’s Jovi Evans, Iowa City High’s Hattie Galloway, North Tama’s Addison Hochstetler, Dyersville Beckman’s Addi Hogan, Springville’s Rowan Jacobi, Marion’s Abbey Kirk, West Delaware’s Lauren LeClere, Iowa City Regina’s Edie Miller, Anamosa’s Sophie Sander and Mount Vernon’s Cali Whitaker.

Jacobi was the 1A player of the year.

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Jaedynn Evans is the area coach of the year after leading Iowa City West back to prosperity.

The Trojans (27-6) reached the state tournament for the first time since 2014, and also captured the Mississippi Valley Conference tournament championship.

“Volleyball has always been a legacy sport at West,” Evans said before the state tournament. “First thing I wanted to do, I wanted to bring back the culture.”

Evans is 24. This was her first season coaching high school ball.

It almost didn’t happen.

“When she interviewed, she was going to withdraw,” West athletics director B.J. Mayer said. “I said, ‘OK, what’s going on?’

“She was going to take a college position. I said, ‘I need you to give me a little time,’ and we were able to get her a teaching position.”

Evans graduated from Regina, then went on to play at Central Oklahoma and Wisconsin-Whitewater.

“She brings so much energy,” Austen said. “She’s such a competitive person, pushing us to be our best version of ourselves. She expects us to be good teammates and good people.”

2025 GAZETTE ALL-AREA VOLLEYBALL TEAM

OH SOPHIA AUSTEN, 6-1, jr., Iowa City West — Averaged 3.56 kills, 3.97 digs, 0.45 blocks and 0.43 aces per set as the Trojans (27-6) reached the Class 5A state quarterfinals. Posted a .217 kill efficiency. 5A first-team all-state.

OH JOVI EVANS, 5-6, sr., Mid-Prairie — Averaged 4.11 kills, 3.83 assists, 4.04 digs and 0.55 aces per set as the Golden Hawks (30-10) reached the Class 3A state quarterfinals. Posted a .351 kill efficiency and served 91.1 percent. 3A first-team all-state.

MH HATTIE GALLOWAY, 6-1, jr., Iowa City High — Averaged 2.70 kills, 0.73 blocks and 1.00 digs per set as the Little Hawks went 9-19. Posted a .321 kill efficiency. Class 5A second-team all-state.

S EMILY HENDERSON, 5-8, sr., Clear Creek Amana — Averaged 9.28 assists and 2.28 digs per set as the Clippers (42-4) reached the Class 4A state semifinals. Posted a .433 kill efficiency and served 96.9 percent. 4A first-team all-state.

L ADDISON HOCHSTETLER, 5-2, sr., North Tama — Averaged 4.30 digs and 0.93 aces per set as the Redhawks (29-14) reached the Class 1A state semifinals. Served 91.5 percent. 1A first-team all-state.

L ADDI HOGAN, 5-5, jr., Dyersville Beckman — Averaged 5.01 digs per set as the Blazers (32-8) reached the Class 2A state quarterfinals. Served 91.9 percent. 2A second-team all-state.

MH ROWAN JACOBI, 6-2, sr., Springville — Averaged 5.58 kills, 1.01 blocks and 2.48 digs per set as the Orioles (26-13) reached the Class 1A regional finals. Posted a .393 kill efficiency. 1A first-team all-state (and 1A player of the year).

OH ABBEY KIRK, 5-10, fr., Marion — Averaged 3.61 kills, 0.41 blocks, 2.73 digs and 0.48 aces per set as the Wolves (28-14) reached the Class 4A state quarterfinals. Posted a .235 kill efficiency and served 92.7 percent. 4A second-team all-state.

OH LAUREN LE CLERE, 5-9, sr., West Delaware — Averaged 4.59 kills, 0.70 blocks and 1.65 digs per set as the Hawks (30-12) reached the Class 3A regional semifinals. Posted a .306 kill efficiency and served 90.5 percent. 3A first-team all-state.

OH AVERIE LOWER, 6-0, sr., Clear Creek Amana — Averaged 3.16 kills, 0.46 blocks and 2.71 digs per set as the Clippers (42-4) reached the Class 4A state semifinals. Posted a .285 kill efficiency and served 96.0 percent. 4A first-team all-state.

L EDIE MILLER, 5-6, jr., Iowa City Liberty — Averaged 5.16 digs per set and served 90.9 percent as the Lightning (24-11) reached the Class 5A regional finals. 5A second-team all-state.

OH REESE NAEVE, 5-9, sr., Iowa City Regina — Averaged 6.29 kills and 4.35 digs per set as the Regals (30-14) reached the Class 2A state quarterfinals. Posted a .334 kill efficiency and served 92.7 percent. Elite all-state and 2A first-team all-state.

S SOPHIE SANDER, 6-0, sr., Anamosa — Averaged 1.17 kills, 8.76 assists and 0.44 blocks per set as the Blue Raiders (26-12) reached the Class 3A regional finals. Posted a .336 kill efficiency. 3A first-team all-state.

MH BAILEY SIMPSON, 6-2, jr., Clear Creek Amana — Averaged 2.73 kills, 0.93 blocks and 0.81 digs per set as the Clippers (42-4) reached the Class 4A state semifinals. Posted a .379 kill efficiency and served 93.8 percent. 4A second-team all-state.

MH CALI WHITAKER, 5-7, sr., Mount Vernon — Averaged 2.46 kills and 0.87 blocks per set as the Mustangs (23-16) reached the Class 3A state quarterfinals. Posted a .401 kill efficiency. 3A second-team all-state.

Player of the year

OH Reese Naeve, 5-9, sr., Iowa City Regina

Coach of the year

Jaedynn Evans, Iowa City West

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com