The good news for this season, however, was that many of last year’s players returned to the court this year, led by seniors Sydnee Helget and Megan Haala. Under nine-year Greyhounds head coach Becky Wilfahrt and senior leadership consisting of Helget, Haala, Lily Brennan and Annie Edwards, the Greyhounds not only passed last year’s 20-win total, they also took home a share of the Tomahawk Conference championship, the program’s first conference title since 1993.

Helget and Haala were the Greyhounds’ go-to hitters this year as Helget led the team in kills with 272, while Haala finished second on the team with 248.

Despite being two of the team’s top players and a big reason for the Greyhounds’ 21-5 record, Helget and Haala are more than happy to share credit with their teammates. Both hitters also shared honors Saturday after being named the 2022 All-Journal Co-Players of the Year as voted on by The Journal’s sports staff.

“It’s great that we can share as teammates,” Helget said. “It really shows our chemistry because we have great chemistry, the whole team on the floor. We were all each other’s biggest supporters, biggest cheerleaders on the team. I think it’s great that we can share this because we worked each other harder and harder in practice. Both of us being the middles, we’re always doing the games in practice against each other, so I think it’s awesome that we can just make each other better and work each other as hard as we can.”

Photo illustrations by Travis Rosenau New Ulm Cathedral’s Megan Haala was named a 2022 All-Journal Volleyball Co-Player of the Year on Saturday.

Haala added that Helget and the other seniors on the team this year have been friends and teammates for many years and she’s proud to share honors with Helget.

“We’ve been playing together for the last five years at least, I’d say,” Haala said. “And we see each other every day at school. It’s something awesome to accomplish together because we’re a team and always worked together for a very long time.”

Helget also led the team in blocks this season with 38 and had 230 digs in what she considered an improved season for her on defense. Helget also added 29 ace serves on a 98% serving percentage this year and finished her career with with a school-record 98% serving percentage as a result. She also finished her career with 903 kills, second all-time in school history.

Haala led the conference in ace serves this year and finished with 60 ace serves. She also had 25 blocks and led the team in digs (290), hitting efficiency (.251) and service points (200).

The Greyhounds had just one loss in the conference this season against a tough Wabasso squad. Cathedral shared the conference title with Sleepy Eye St. Mary’s but defeated the Knights twice during the season, the first time in a conference match sweep at home and then in four sets of nonconference action at St. Mary’s to end the regular season.

And that conference title highlighted a strong year of Greyhounds volleyball.

“We’ve always been wanting that,” Helget said. “Every year that’s our goal, and obviously probably for every team that’s their goal, but we’ve been working for this for so many years and we’ve been so close every year. We finally get it this year, and I would say that was a really big mile-marker for us and what we’ve always wanted and we finally got it our senior year.”

The Greyhounds’ balanced attack this year kept teams at bay. Haala’s attack placement and Helget’s aggressive swings were just two things keeping team’s off balance this season.

“I think Megan is really good at seeing open spots on the floor, tipping it to open spots, hitting it to open spots,” Helget said. “I like to hit it as hard as I can every time [laughs]. Megan played I think a couple more rotations outside sometimes. … Some nights I would play more outside and she would play more middle.”

Haala agreed with Helget and said that no matter what the two were doing, it worked.

“I did swing a lot, too, but if their tips were open, I would tip to the open spot or I’d push it to the corner if that were open or anything,” Haala said. “Sydnee would swing a lot more than tip, but it worked for both of us the way we did it.”

Both Helget and Haala said they believe their play in the back row improved a lot from last season, which helped the team a lot in addition to their play at the net. It’s hard to argue against them as the Greyhounds’ defensive effort led to shutout victories in 15 matches this season.

While Cathedral ended up falling to BOLD in the Section 2A, North Subsection semifinals to end the season, both players view this year as a success.

“As seniors, we did everything we could, we worked as hard as we could,” Helget said. “And I think we’re all pretty happy with what we did during the season, how hard we worked and just everything we put in.”

Haala said the team achieved many of the goals set at the beginning of the season.

“We met a lot of the goals that we set coming into this season and we all just worked together and didn’t have problems or anything,” Haala said. “We all just stepped up into our roles and played as one team.”

While the season ended in the section playoffs, the Greyhounds were quick to continue bonding off the court.

“After that game, we went out to breakfast the next morning and it was just nice spending it with your teammates again,” Haala said. “Then we had our team banquet and us four seniors gave speeches and the coaches gave speeches.”

Helget is keeping her options open for college but would like major in nursing and has South Dakota State University as her top school in mind. Helget also said she could potentially pursue club volleyball. Before Haala attends college, she’ll turn her attention to softball in the spring, where she’s had much success in the circle and at the plate. After high school, Haala would also like to attend SDSU but is also keeping her options open and wants to see how her senior year plays out.