Over her years of going to Clarion-Goldfield-Dows, junior Morgan Middleton admits that while she participated in four sports (including basketball, track & field and softball) up to her freshman year that volleyball has always been her favorite.
“I started with AAU volleyball in 3rd & 4th grade, and I knew then it was my favorite,” said the daughter of Clint & Amanda Middleton. “Mom said she could tell this was something I wanted to do.” She also admits to looking up then to the high school Cowgirls at that time. “They were my idols, and it was exciting as a kid to watch them and sit in the student section and cheer them on.”
Well, after the season that Middleton just finished it’s safe to say that now she has the young girls idolizing her and wanting to play the game like her when they get to high school. And why not! Middleton is fast becoming one of the best volleyball players that this school has turned out, maybe and arguably the best. She will also enter next year as one of the top players to watch in 2A statewide. By the time she finishes her senior year, she will have her name several times in the record book along with making an impact already at the state level. We’ll get into that more a bit later.
Middleton was an immediate starter her freshman year, and finished with 290 kills which is a huge accomplishment for a first-year high school player. “My biggest goal was to play varsity that year,” said Middleton. “I pushed myself all summer in open gyms, etc. My chances looked better as the yesr went on, and I ended up playing a lot along with several others in my class like Alaina, Jadyn and Kylie (Greenfield).” By now, you know the rest. Her sophomore year ended with 438 kills and a state appearance where they lost a quarterfinal match to Kuemper Catholic. Her junior season ended with 577 kills and a second straight state berth, and this time they advanced to the semifinals before bowing out.
Nothing comes easy, even for gifted athletes like Middleton. She credits at least some of her success to a lot of hard work. “Having club volleyball in the offseason gave me good practice, both on offense and defense,” said Middleton. “Having my mom help out, and great coaches from Des Moines and Cedar Falls, also helped me a lot.”
It was just this season that she started looking into what the career kill record was at the school, and obviously so did her coach. “I found out I only needed around 300 coming into this year,” said Middleton. “Then coach TerHark told me that night (I had broken the record) when we played Pocahontas Area. I was so excited. It was a great accomplishment. It was also cool for me to see Alaina (Friesleben) make 1,000 career assists in the same season.”
She said that her and her teammates were determined to make it to state her sophomore year. “It was crazy and amazing when we knew we did it,” said Middleton. “It was the first time in years for our school, and we wanted to do it so bad for our coaches and the school.” They were equally excited to go back this year, and especially to go further and show all the fans in Cedar Rapids how good Cowgirl volleyball was. “Winning our first match was super exciting,” said Middleton. “Beckman had two really strong hitters, and we knew we had to try to take them out. It was the toughest team we’ve played this year. While it was fun to play them, it was also sad to get so close (to the finals) and lose.” She topped off her week by earning a coveted spot on the 2A All-Tournament Team.
She readily admits that yet another record, one attained versus Wilton in the quarterfinals, was exciting to accomplish. “The 34 match kills record for 2A was a great feeling,” she said. “We were so excited about winning we didn’t even know until later. I hadn’t even thought about that.” Needless to say, getting so close and a step further this year means they want to return in 2020 and I wouldn’t bet against this group to make that happen as they will likely enter next season as one of the highly rated teams in their class. “We’re already looking forward to it,” said Middleton. “Our goals are conference champs again and making state again and going to the finals. But it is crazy to think about that being our final year.”
In that regard, she has already verbally committed to attend North Dakota State University in Fargo to play volleyball for the Division I Bison. She is not allowed to sign her letter of intent until her senior year. “I’m excited about it,” said Middleton. She admits she had to look at several factors to make the determination, which included traveling distance for her parents to attend matches. “They play at University of Nebraska (Omaha) and South Dakota State (Brookings). I enjoyed meeting the coaches, and the classes are what I’m looking for. I wanted the best fit for me.”
Middleton wishes to thank her coaches, Katrina, Laura, Hope and Macoy along with former assistant Cara Odland for all their help, and also her parents for their help, support and encouragement. She thanks people like Mr. Vorrie, Mr. Krueger and others who came to scrimmages. She especially knows that if it wasn’t for the strong team defense, led by libero Jondle who is like the quarterback of the team, and great sets from Friesleben along with the hard work from all of them she wouldn’t have been able to achieve these accomplishments.
“I love playing with these girls,” said Middleton. “It’s all of us working hard for each other that allows us to achieve great team success and pick up some individual accomplishments along the way.” Her mom Mandi also adds, “They truly put the goals of the team before themselves, and we realize the importance of the contributions all of the girls make that has led to this success. It’s a team Clint and I are thankful for our daughter to be part of. We know she’ll forever treasure these experiences with some of her closest friends.”
She is an amazing athlete, who is far from done yet in continuing her already sizable list of accomplishments for Cowgirl volleyball. And yet, I found her to be well grounded and humble about all of it. Most of all, she knows she couldn’t have achieved it without the help of her teammates. While it’s already been said that future Cowgirl volleyball players will draw inspiration from watching her, it’s possible we may never see someone of her caliber again at C-G-D. I don’t know about you, but I’m excited already to see what’s coming next season!
