Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – Early in her volleyball career Addie Schmierer found her calling as a libero responsible for picking up kill attempts from opposing hitters.

At 5-foot-2 with nimble feet and soft hands libero was a natural fit for Schmierer who has excelled at her role enough collect more than 1,000 career digs and the opportunity to play Division I volleyball in college.

Aside from her physical skills something else about the libero position seemed like a natural spot for Schmierer.

A position predicated largely on digging up potential points seemed like the perfect spot for a player known for picking up teammates when they need it most.

The ability of Schmierer to do both has fifth-ranked Liberty High (23-2) on the brink of the Class 5A title game.

Schmierer had a match-high 18 digs in a semifinal win over West Des Moines Valley of Monday including a couple of key ones late in a fourth-set Lightning rally as Liberty High advanced to the 5A state semifinals for the first time in program history.

“When we get down we are looking for Addie to pick people up,” Liberty High coach Randy Dolson said. “As a libero you have an opportunity to pick a team up through your defense and she picked up a couple of big ones in the fourth set and that was huge.”

Schmierer is one of three senior starters on a Liberty High squad that has enjoyed a rapid rise toward the top of the Iowa prep volleyball world.

A four-year starter and back row stalwart, Schmierer has led the Lightning in digs each of the past two seasons while racking up 1,096 for her career.

Schmierer enters Wednesday’s 5A semifinal against top-ranked West Des Moines Dowling (22-2) with a team-leading 234 digs this season.

She has 24 ace serves this season and serving back-to-back aces to clinch the semifinal win over Valley.

Steady passing or aggressive serving are definitely strengths for Schmierer but it is another of the senior’s vast set of skills that has been most important for Liberty High during its ascension into the state’s volleyball elite.

“My leadership is something that has improved,” Schmierer said. “Anyone can have the skills to pass and serve but being a leader is really a key thing. I think for this team we really needed leadership early on. I have worked really hard on my leadership skills and I think that’s part of the reason we have gotten here.”

Schmierer was among the original building blocks for the Liberty High program that won 13 matches in its inaugural season n 2017.

A year later the Lightning posted a winning season going 19-15.

It was during that second season that Dolson picked up on what seemed to be lacking in program filled largely with underclassmen.

“That was the biggest transition thing in the entire program that we didn’t think a whole lot about until it was our second year and we said we don’t have any leaders out there and we were losing some matches because of that,” Dolson said. “We would look around and say who is going to step up and nobody was at that time. We had to dive into the leadership a little bit.”
Enter Schmierer.

Along with others like graduated setter Rylee Fay and current senior setter Hailey Hested, Schmierer began taking a bigger, more active leadership role.

“It was really apparent early on that our leadership was lacking,” Schmierer said. “The last few years I knew we had to work on that and Hailey and I really took it on knowing this team was going to need a leader.”

The results were immediate.

With a lineup Bolstered by a trio of young hitters in Kennedy Daugherty, Shelby Kimm and Cassidy Hartman and finally with upperclassmen like Hested and Schmierer leading the way Liberty High went 34-3 last season and reached the state tournament.

This year the Lightning have taken it a step further, advancing to the 5A semifinals for the first time.

Together Hested and Schmierer share the leadership load on team loaded with young talent.

“She is a lot more stern and I am the one who is picking people up,” Schmierer said. “I think it works really well because I am a really big talker on the court and she is more of a leader by example so I think we work well together.”

Schmierer will play college volleyball at Drake next season, committing to the Bulldogs in August.

First, she has a vision of starting what she finished four years ago as a freshman when her only goal was to really have fun.

“Our first year we didn’t know what we were getting into because we weren’t in a conference or anything and we just wanted to play for fun,” Schmierer said. “Our next year we said let’s win 20 games, last year we said let’s get to state and this year we said lets win a state championship. We want to end with a championship.”

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