JOHN SHERMAN

john. sherman @ apgecm. com

With young talent in several of the key positions last season, the Edina High girls volleyball team won only one of seven Lake Conference matches on the way to a 10-19 overall record.

The good news is that the young players from last season are more experienced now and anxious to move up in the ranks.

After co-head coaching with Mark Nelson last season, James McDonald is the sole head coach for the Hornets this season. Also on the Edina coaching staff for 2026 are assistants Alexis Hart, Elyse Ruthenbeck, Claire Ruthenbeck, Drew McDougall and Macy McKeehen.

Edina graduated seven seniors from last year’ s team – Captains Miklayne Koppen, Aubrey Mueller and Liv Peterson along with classmates Ainsley Graves, Sara McGrath, Addie Muckenhirn and Lilly Perron. Student manager Lucy Gleason was also among the team members graduating in 2026.

The good news for the Hornets is that three very young players were on the varsity roster last season.

A returning senior leader for the Hornets is Marielle Meyer, the talented senior with strong offensive skills, plus blocking and serving talents.

Based on last season, Meyer could be among the Lake’ s best volleyball players this fall.

Flora Clarke made the 2025 varsity rotation as an eighth-grader and showed a range of offensive and

defensive skills as an outside hitter. Two other players got varsity playing time as ninth-graders in 2025. they are middle hitter and blocker Ellie Bowen and setter Elle Velander.

Meyer, senior middle blocker Bella Ferraro and Clarke are Edina’ s captains. Other varsity seniors are Signe Anderson, Greta Geisler, Bonus Phanthurakse and Clementine Weleczki. Abby Howard and Evie McInroy are the juniors. Charlize Gougeon, Zoe Matelski and Allison Kreblin are the sophomores along with Bowen and Velander. Junior Andi Donovan is the team manager.

One of the strengths of Edina’ s program last season was impressive depth. In addition to 14 varsity players, the Hornets listed 11 players on the JV squad, 13 players on the B squad, 11 players on the 9A team and 13 players on the 9B team for a total of 62.

Those numbers put Edina on a par with the Lake’ s traditional volleyball powers – Wayzata, Minnetonka, Eden Prairie and St. Michael-Albertville – along with defending champion Maple Grove, whose first season in the Lake Conference was last fall.

Maple Grove ruled the conference standings with a 7-0 record and went on to post an overall mark of 27-4. Minnetonka head coach Karl Katzenberger, whose goal is to reach the 20-win mark every year, led the Skippers to a 21-8 season that included a 6-1 mark in Lake matches. St. Michael-Albertville was

also above the. 500 mark for the season at 16-14. Wayzata, normally a state tournament team under head coach Scott Jackson, fell short of state last season with a final mark of 17-13.

Edina, Buffalo and Hopkins were low-ranking teams in the standings. Buffalo finished 10-15 overall with one Lake Conference victory while Hopkins went 0-7 in conference play and battled to a 6-16 overall record.

The Hornets were scheduled to play their Lake Conference opener at Buffalo on Sept. 1. The second Lake match is at 7 p. m. Thursday, Sept. 3, at Maple Grove.

Edina’ s home opener at Edina High Activity Center brings Wayzata to town at 7 p. m. Tuesday, Sept. 8. The Hornets then play Hopkins in another home match at 7 p. m. Thursday, Sept. 10, at the activity center.

The first tournament of the season for Edina is the Aerie Challenge Friday and Saturday, Sept. 11 and 12, at Apple Valley High School. A second major tournament in the regular season is the St. Michael-Albertville Fall Classic Oct. 9-10.

Other Lake matches on Edina’ s schedule are 7 p. m. starts – Sept. 15 at home against Eden Prairie, Sept. 23 at St. Michael-Albertville and Sept. 29 at home against Minnetonka.

Edina has tests against two potential Section 6 opponents.

The Hornets host Minneapolis Southwest Oct. 1 a the activity center and travel to Burnsville for the final match of the regular season Oct. 22 at Burnsville High’ s varsity gym.

( SUN PHOTO BY JOHN SHERMAN)

Ellie Bowen, one of Edina’ s promising young volleyball athletes, rises for a kill during a match at Edina High Activity Center last season.

( SUN PHOTO BY JOHN SHERMAN)

Flora Clarke arrived ahead of schedule last fall when she made the Hornets’ varsity rotation as an eighth-grader.