Iola High’s Alana Mader found herself quite effective manning the middle of the court at the net in 2023.
The Register’s Female Athlete of the Month for October ranked second on the Mustangs with 240 kills, with a team-high 122 blocks. She also led the team in kill percentage at .244, while serving up 30 aces with 222 digs.
“I’ve had many people tell me I’ve improved, and I could feel it and see it,” she said. “I definitely put in a lot of work.”
Mader shifted over to the middle from the setter position her sophomore year, and quickly grew to love the move.
“It felt like I got more action, even though setters touch the ball every time,” Maders said. “I liked the action up front better.”
Mader has been playing volleyball since she was in the seventh grade. She also plays during the offseason with the Allen County Aces, a traveling volleyball squad featuring area standouts.
“I’m playing this winter, and will probably do something in the summer,” she said.
She’s bullish on Iola’s prospects in 2024, noting the Mustangs lose only one senior from this year’s squad. “My junior class has been together a long time,” she said. “We all did club (volleyball) together. In fact, Kaysin (Crusinbery) and I had every class together. That helped our relationship a lot.”
Off the court, Mader also is a member of the IHS basketball and softball teams. In fact, basketball practice started this week.
“I’m hoping we can carry over what we did from volleyball,” she said. “If we click like we did for volleyball, we’ll be pretty good.”
As a junior, Mader — daughter of Erin Splechter and Mike Splechter — has some time before deciding where she’ll attend college.
She plans on studying radiology.
“My mom’s a nurse practitioner, and I’ve been interested in the medical field,” Mader explained. “But I don’t like the nasty stuff. I’d rather do the background stuff.”
