ABOVE: Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther senior Londyn Bowers goes up for the ball during a playoff volleyball match against Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewart on Oct. 23 at St. Peter High School. Photo by Ari Selvey.

TRUMAN – Granada-Huntley-East Chain/Truman/Martin Luther volleyball head coach TJ Williams always knew Londyn Bowers was going to be a special player; it was only a matter of time before her talents were displayed at the varsity level.

After seeing Bowers thrive as the libero on the Jaguar girls B-squad in 2020, Williams and former varsity head coach Paul Steinhaus knew it was time to see her skills take on a higher level of competition.

Bowers has since become a staple of the GHEC/T/ML volleyball program, recording over 1,000 kills and digs during her five-year tenure on the roster. She entered the 2025 fall season as one of the more touted players in the southern Minnesota high school volleyball community, with many spectators wondering if Bowers could improve on her 285 kills and 274 digs from the year prior.

Bowers not only exceeded this mark by the end of her senior season, she did it convincingly. Improving on both statistical categories by more than 100, her 461 kills and 370 digs helped guide the Jaguars program to yet another successful season.

This productive on-court output has earned Bowers the title of 2025 All-Sentinel Volleyball Player of the Year.

“She’s always been a good player, but her numbers grew [this season],” Williams said. “She was 333 kills away from 1,000, and had never had that mark before. That improvement right there is incredible.”

There was a handful of skills that Bowers wanted to improve on entering her fifth and final season with the GHEC/T/ML volleyball program, most of which went beyond the court.

From an individual perspective, Bowers says she has sometimes had trouble with the mental side of the sport, constantly putting more and more pressure on herself to perform at a high level whenever she failed to meet her lofty expectations.

This season, her mental confidence has taken a complete 180 from years prior. Rather than bogging her mind with constant demands for perfection, Bowers played with a more relaxed mentality that freed up her talents and skills that were already prevalent to many.

“For sports, they have always been very mental. I am very hard on myself and put way too much pressure on myself,” Bowers said. “Going into this season, I told myself I just need to enjoy everything, taking that pressure off myself and just play. … This is my last season, so focusing on those mistakes is only going to make it harder for me. My biggest goal for myself was to play with ease.”

The new mindset completely opened up her game. While Bowers says there were still times she was too hard on herself during the season, the added weight off her shoulders drew an even more consistent and productive output anytime she stepped foot on the hardwood.

It allowed Bowers to focus on a bigger role as an overall leader, not just for the underclassmen, but for the entire GHEC/T/ML team. Williams refers to her on-court presence as another coach on the team, seeing things that he doesn’t catch and helping give advice to other players mid-set.

Talking to Williams about specific strategies, leading team huddles, and giving other individuals advice are only a handful of leadership qualities Bowers showed during a contest. But off the court, the senior always made an emphasis to uplift her team, no matter the situation.

“I just really wanted to be a team leader and just help my team out in every possible way I could,” Bowers said. “Before games in the locker room, even though TJ would talk to us before, I would make sure I would talk to the team and really try to hype everyone up. … I just tried to be there for everyone and be a team supporter to really get them excited before games.”

The last two seasons for GHEC/T/ML volleyball have been some of the best in program history, with 2024’s 16-13 record being the best the Jaguars have ever seen. Despite not reaching that mark this past fall, going 14-15 on the season, the foundation has been set for what seems to be a positive direction for the program as a whole.

Bowers hopes that what she has done individually and as a team can motivate the upcoming group of underclassmen to stick to the sport she has fallen in love with, showing the ropes for success and proving that anything can be done with a little bit of hard work.

“My goal was not only for people to remember me, but also for what I accomplished as a teammate and as a person,” Bowers said. “When the younger girls got to practice with us, I really wanted to make them feel like they were doing a good job and had great teammates around them to help them feel supported.”