Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Josie Helget encourages her teammates during a Section 2A Volleyball Tournament game against Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart on Oct. 28 at St. Peter High School.

SLEEPY EYE — Setters are usually not the ones on the volleyball court to get all the glory.

But throughout her career, Sleepy Eye St. Marys’ Josie Helget has quietly been racking up the assist numbers. This season, Helget recorded 820 set assists, 10.1 per set, and helped lead the Knights to a 21-8 record in her senior year. Helget surpassed not only the 2,000-set assist mark this season, but she also finished the year with 2,406 for her career, surpassing Jody Hansen for most all-time in school history.

Hansen recorded 2,164 set assists in her career and is one of eight St. Mary’s players to record over 1,000 career set assists. Helget said surpassing the record at a school with such a strong setter tradition was significant to her.

“I think the fact that I’m not the first [with over 2,000 set assists at St. Mary’s] is really a testament to what I was able to do,” Helget said. “I had a lot of really good role models growing up, older girls to look up to and help me set my goals high. I knew what could be accomplished, so I definitely set my goals high. I wasn’t sure I was going to reach that many, but with the help of a really great program and a lot of trust from coaches and a lot of good athletes around me growing up all the way to my final season, I’m just really grateful to all of them and I did not do it alone at all.”

Helget said her improved consistency and leadership throughout the years helped her become the setter she is today.

“[Consistency] was always the goal for me,” she said. “Growing up, I would watch other setters and other people would talk about how consistent good setters are, so that’s something I always wanted to be. That’s something in the end that improved the most to me.

“Otherwise, I would say leadership. I always wanted to be that person that was in the leadership role, and I think I finally got to do that this year. I think I understood my role a lot more and I was able to be a good leader for teammates, and hopefully they feel the same way. I’ve really enjoyed that leadership aspect of the game, especially since that translates over into other aspects of life.”

Helget has played with several talented hitters through her three-year starting career, including Jenica Schroepfer (2023 All-Journal First Team), Reese Hoffmann (2023 All-Journal Second Team, 2024 All-Journal Third Team) and Morgan Mathiowetz (2024 All-Journal First Team). Helget is appreciative of all the talent in the teams she has played with that has helped her earn the record.

“Obviously it helps so much,” Helget said. “As a setter, you’re working hard to get balls up for your hitters, and having a successful hitter makes a big difference. It makes the game a lot of fun. They’re all very good athletes, so I can look up to them, not necessarily just for setting but for all aspects of the game. They’re great teammates, they always have been. Not only those three [Schroepfer, Hoffmann and Mathiowetz], but all of them. I’ve had a lot of good passers. That’s essential for having assists and kills. I don’t get an assist without a dig from the back row or anywhere on the court, so that’s a really big deal. I wouldn’t have been able to do that without all of them.

“But going back to all the hitters over the years, It’s been so much fun to play with them and I’m really grateful for them, because they are really great athletes, and my job, accomplishing that many set assists, is not possible without really great hitters. So I’m really grateful for them.”

St. Mary’s played several other seniors this season, including Hoffmann, Kailey Nelson, Ella Pollard and Natalie Fischer. The group has played together throughout their careers and Helget attributes a lot of her success to the chemistry the group has built through the years.

“I think we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish what we did with any one of us missing,” Helget said. “We’ve been playing together since, like, fifth grade, and we have so many memories together. That length of time allows us to have a good connection on the court and that is great not only skill-wise, being able to have a connection with a setter to a hitter or a passer and the team all the way around, but off the court, those connections make a really big difference with team morale and things like that.

“Being able to have fun because you’re playing with your best friends who you have been playing with forever. I have enjoyed the past however many years playing with them and I’m so thankful for the memories we have together. And I’ve loved every moment of volleyball with them.”

In her time with St. Mary’s Volleyball, Helget has learned to always be in love with the game.

“Play volleyball as much as you can,” she said. “Fall in love with the sport. It’s really the reps that matter in the end. Just learn everything you can from the sport. You’re going to have ups and downs, you’ll face adversity, you’re going to be challenged, but that’s the point of sports. In the end, you’re supposed to grown stronger as a person.

“If you don’t have fun while playing the sport, you’ve kind of lost the point of doing it. Just have fun with the sport, create good relationships with people and enjoy the journey, because that’s all that matters in the end.”

Helget’s favorite memories include time spent with her teammates outside of games.

“The bus rides, specifically, have been a lot of fun,” she said. “The coaches always take our phones away so that we have a lot of fun on the bus rides home, and I’d say they probably accomplished their goal. I have so many memories of screaming songs on the bus rides home from wins. And a lot of time spent off the court with my teammates, creating a lot of really fun memories and growing our relationships with each other. I would say the friendship that I’ve created from being in volleyball, I don’t think I would be as close with some people if it hadn’t been for volleyball. That’s been a really big deal to me.”

Though she has no plans to continue playing volleyball at the next level, it’s without doubt that Helget will leave a lasting impact at St. Mary’s, with her name on the banner that holds all 1,000-stat recorders for St. Mary’s sports in the gym. Helget hopes she can leave more than just her name in the St. Mary’s gym after she leaves.

“Be a hard worker and fall in love with the game,” she said. “That’s really what got me to be a successful setter. I fell in love with the game at a young age, and I would just get reps with myself against the roof of my house and I would play volleyball as often as I could. I watched volleyball as much as I could. Just fall in love with the game and you’re going to grow a strong passion for the sport. And just work hard. Show up for your teammates, be selfless and be a very selfless person. Give yourself to your teammates and play for something bigger than yourself, and you’re going to learn a lot from the sport.

“You’re going to accomplish great things, even greater things than the numbers on the banner. I think the impact you can make is a bigger impact than that number. And have fun is the main thing.”