The Iowa Falls-Alden volleyball program has begun preseason practices with a new coaching staff. Nikki Allen and Tammy Merklin have taken over as co-head coaches. Allen says she and Merklin have a deep connection to the program.
“We just kind of had an unusual situation where late in the spring they were looking for a coach and we still needed an assistant coach as well,” Allen says. “They just approached me knowing that I’ve coached lots of years and my daughter’s a senior. So I’m very invested in the program and graduated from Iowa Falls-Alden. So volleyball just has that special place in my heart in our program. Then I reached out to Tammy Merklin, who we’ve coached together for years and together we decided that we would at least agree to be interim coaches for one year.”
The Cadets will look to put together the program’s first winning season since 2020. Allen says they have a few key goals to help turn the program around.
“First of all, just the culture in the gym, which they’ve done a great job with and I feel like they’ve bought in and that’s good. We kind of have three main goals every match, and one of those is like 90 percent serving, because that’s something we can control. Our effort and energy, again, something we can control, and communication. So if we can do those things well, then we have the volleyball skills with our girls and then those wins will start to come once they have that confidence. What we’ve observed so far is that when their energy is up, we’re doing well. And so we just have to maintain that throughout matches.”
The Cadets have a fair amount of returning varsity experience, including setter Elody England, and leading hitters Carlea Dagel, Leah Allen and Tessa Lorenz-Neumann.
They’ll begin the season Tuesday, August 26 at South Hardin on 99 The Wave.
Nikki Allen interview:
