Martin County West senior outside hitter Logan Kosbab earned prep volleyball accolades by converting set assists into kills, while Martin Luther/ Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman senior setter Lydia Steinhaus garnered postseason honors by setting up her teammates for kills with timely sets.

For their contributions on the hardwood playing surface, Kosbab and Steinhaus have been selected as the 2019 Sentinel All-Area co-volleyball players of the year.

Season after season, Lydia Steinhaus kept dishing out assists.

Steinhaus was a leader for the Jaguars on offense and defense this season. The senior dished out an area-leading 420 assists and dug out a Jaguar-leading 176 digs. On Sept. 30th, Steinhaus collected her 1,000th career assist in the second game of a Valley Conference match against St. Clair.

Jaguar head coach Paul Steinhaus said Lydia Steinhaus has been a consistent leader throughout her years with the Jaguars.

“I think the measuring stick for that is her consistency of play,” Paul Steinhaus said. “She’s really been very consistent. … She’s very positive, very forward thinking. … She never really dwells on things from the past.

“Honestly her work ethic, her being a teammate, that happened in all three seasons. … You know what you’re going to get, someone with a hard work ethic and someone who isn’t going to be influenced by past plays. She won’t have overly positive spin or overly negative spin, she just wants to get to the next point of success. … That allows her to be reliable, trustworthy, a lot of the intangibles that come with being a good athlete and a good teammate.”

The first-team all-Valley Conference setter ended her senior season third all-time in Jaguar volleyball history with 1,167 assists. Steinhaus ended behind only Katelyn Arndt (1,518) and Hannah Johanson (1,452). Paul Steinhaus said Lydia is easily one of the best setters in his time coaching the Jaguars.

“This year in particular, her technique as a setter has clearly been the best, she made big strides in her technique from last year to this year,” Paul Steinhaus said. “Along with that setting position, her consistency in location really helped our hitters get better. … She’s a born leader and she also wants to be aggressive. She would call plays in to the hitters that were pretty aggressive and would keep the games fun and interesting.”

Lydia Steinhaus also successfully served 192-for-211 for 92.2 percent with 32 aces, moving her to second all-time for the Jaguars with 116 aces, trailing only older sister Marissa Steinhaus, who totaled 138.

“Being a coach’s kid, her volleyball IQ is pretty solid,” Paul Steinhaus said. “What it allowed me to do as a coach is worry less about the setter position, which is usually a position I spend a lot of time on in the game, helping make decisions on how to handle the ball being played. With Lydia, I didn’t have to do any of that. I could just focus in on hitters and passers and help the other positions more than I could otherwise.”

Despite a season of turnover and new players in Trimont, Kosbab remained a constant for Martin County West.

MCW graduated three All-Area players last year, but Kosbab helped move the Mavericks forward.

“She was one of our returning players, so she knew what was expected and what to do,” said MCW head coach Hilary Elliott. “She really put in a lot of extra time, which was a good example for the other girls. She was always one who was talking about wanting to do more team outings. She played all around for me and really helped lead the team on the floor.”

The senior outside hitter led the Mavericks by recording 99 kills this season, while patrolling the Maverick defensive side with 193 digs to finish behind only Jenna Clow for the team lead.

Kosbab also was a key part of the Mavericks’ season behind the service line.

The all-Valley Conference honorable mention selection hit 92.7 percent of her serves successfully and racked up 29 aces.

Kosbab’s success on the court helped lead the Mavericks to an 8-17 record and the eighth seed in the Section 2A, South Sub-Section tournament. MCW swept No. 9-seeded Mankato Loyola in the first round of the postseason, then fell to Class 1A No. 2-ranked and top-seeded Waterville-Elysian-Morristown in the sub-section quarterfinals.

“I first started with Logan when she was on B-squad as a sophomore,” said Elliott. “There were a lot of good things with that group and Logan always worked hard and wanted to better herself. That year we kind of called it “the Logan way” it was ugly but effective, she didn’t ever hit the ball super-hard, but it always found the floor. I told her the power would come as she got older and stronger. She put in a lot of extra work through her time and you could really see a difference this year. “

Here’s a look at the rest of this year’s Sentinel All-Area volleyball choices.

Eloise Blair (Blue Earth Area) — The newcomer.

The Buc freshman led the defense with 386 digs from her libero position.

Blair also was a key for the Bucs behind the service line, generating 13 ace serves on the year, while serving at a 83.9 percent clip.

Brita Hougen (Blue Earth Area) — The outside hitter led the Buc offense with 92 kills, while controlling the defense at the net with 18 blocks.

The sophomore standout added 131 digs to help the Bucs’ back line and led the team at the service line with 13 aces coming on a 95.7 percent success rate.

Liz Beeler (Blue Earth Area) — The sophomore setter facilitated the Blue Earth Area offense with 297 assists, for a rate of 4.1 per game.

Beeler also helped the Buc defense with 154 digs, for a rate of 2.1 per game, while playing a key service role, hitting at a 92.8 percent success rate with nine aces.

Chloe Lofstrom (North Union) — The senior middle hitter controlled the Warrior offense with her team-leading 109 kills.

The two-time All-Area volleyball selection led North Union by hitting 181 sucessful serves on 193 attempts for a .938 success rate. Lofstrom added 30 aces behind the service line.

Lofstrom also led the Warrior defense with 191 digs and was third on the team with 25 blocks.

Sabrina Segar (Fairmont) — As a first-year starter, the junior setter dished out 207 set assists to help power Fairmont’s offense.

Segar also helped the Cardinals from behind the service line, successfully hitting 226 of 240 serves, including 13 aces. She added 25 kills to Fairmont’s offense, while contributing 128 digs on the defensive end.

Cambrie Anderson (Fairmont) — In her second year starting, the Cardinals’ middle hitter contributed 81 kills to the Fairmont offense, while digging out 209 spikes for the Cardinal defense.

Anderson controlled the front line with 15 blocks, while playing a key role behind the service line, hitting 219 successful serves in 229 attempts.

Anderson added 15 service aces to her 95 percent success rate behind the line.

Gabby Lange (Martin County West) — The lengthy front-line player led MCW with an area-high 62 blocks, while spiking 79 kills.

The junior right-side hitter also doled out 15 assists and made 20 digs for the Mavericks.

Sami Meyer (Martin County West) — The two-time All-Area selection continued her success during her senior season with 85 kills.

The Mavericks’ middle hitter also blocked 47 attempted kills, and dug out 27 spikes by opposing hitters.

Jenna Clow (Martin County West) — The senior libero took on the role of defensive specialist and shined this season.

Clow totaled a team-leading 234 digs, while dishing out 17 set assists this fall.

She also played a key role behind the service line, successfully connecting on 92.3 percent of her serve attempts. Clow also hit a team-leading 41 ace serves.

Shaylynn Anderson (Martin County West) — The Mavericks’ setter facilitated their offense with 264 assists, while contributing 119 digs on the defensive side of the ball.

The senior also connected on 33 ace serves to place second on the Mavericks’ roster behind Clow.

Michaelah Petrowiak (ML/GHEC/Truman) — The junior middle hitter led the Jaguar offense and all area teams with 156 kills.

The second-team all Valley Conference choice also made 47 solo blocks and 29 block assists, while contributing a team-high 236 points.

Petrowiak’s point total put her third all-time for the Jaguars’ volleyball program at 393, behind only Leslie Bremer at 407 and Rachel Shumski at 443.

Kambria Steinhaus (ML/GHEC/Truman) — The lone libero on the all-Valley Conference team, the honorable mention selection led the Jaguars with 324 digs on the season.

The sophomore served 216-for-238, including 36 aces. Steinhaus’ ace total moved the sophomore up to fourth in Jaguar history with 87.