Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – In her first two varsity seasons Reese Naeve has been among the most dangerous hitters in the state.

Naeve racked up an eye-popping 1,042 kills in her first two seasons including 600 last season as a sophomore which ranked third in the state.

The scary thing for future Regina opponents is that Naeve is just now learning how to be a complete offensive threat.

“The area that she has grown the most is her ability not to just take a big rip,” Regina coach Lauren Hansen said. “She is seeing her block for the first time and she has worked on all of her shots.”

An explosive athlete, the 5-foot-8 Naeve has relied primarily on her power while putting up impressive numbers the last two seasons.

After an offseason spent adding a finesse game to her offensive repertoire Naeve has gotten off to a stellar start this fall.

“I worked on my shots and mixing it up,” Naeve said. “I know that teams are going to be focused on me so I worked on mixing things up and being shotty.”

Naeve ranks third in the state with 187 kills this fall and her 6.4 kills per set rank fourth state-wide.

The strong start for Naeve includes a 42-kill outburst on Tuesday in a five-set win over River Valley Conference rival Monticello.

“Definitely my out of system attacking has improved a lot,” Naeve said. “We aren’t always going to be in system, so I tried to improve on that and our setter is very vocal and that has really helped me.”

The strong start from Naeve has helped Regina to a 5-6 record and a No. 11 ranking in Class 2A.

Not only has Naeve improved her offensive attack she has worked on rounding out her all-around game.

In Tuesday’s win over Monticello Naeve had 16 digs and five assists while posting her 42 kills on .343 hitting.

“The other thing I’ve asked her to do is figure out how she can be a leader,” Hansen said. “She’s a junior now, before she just goes out and bang balls and now it’s how can she develop that all-around game. Her back row play is phenomenal, she is making really big digs and reading well.”

An Iowa State commit, Naeve ranks third on the team with 89 digs this season, is second on the team with 14 ace serves and has three blocks.

“She has been in the gym a lot really focusing on the little things,” Hansen said. “She is making sure her game is ready to go to Iowa State.”

First Naeve is focused on leading Regina to another strong season.

The Regals went 26-11 last season but dropped their regional opener to West Branch.

Regina has faced six ranked teams during its 5-6 start to the season and has another loss to Class 5A City High.

“I feel like we can improve and we have already made a lot of improvement from the start of the season to now,” Naeve said. “I’m just excited to see where it goes.”

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