The ninth biggest story for Hillcrest Academy athletics in the last academic year takes us to the bench, where two new head coaches started their careers for the Ravens. Head coach Brandon Statler was hired to take over the Raven volleyball program, which had gone 3-19 the previous season after a winless 2019. Statler’s resume included stops with youth programs at his alma-mater Mid-Prairie and at Washington, positions on staff with the Iowa Rockets and USA Volleyball and serving as a head coach for a number of club teams in the area. Highlights from his first season at the helm included his first career victory, coming over Centerville in a sweep on September 4th, double digit overall wins, finishing with a 10-22 overall record, the program’s first conference win since 2018, an early September victory over Louisa-Muscatine, they would finish with three total, a pair of school records for the year including season aces and kills per set, while placing five players, Esther Hughes, Malia Yoder, Norah Yoder, Evelyn Gerber and Kylee Statler on All-Southeast Iowa Superconference teams with Hughes and Malia Yoder named first team selections.

Mitchell Drey took over the Hillcrest head girls basketball coaching duties in unusual circumstances. He was hired to operate the program prior to the 2020-21 season, but due to COVID-19 and a lack of numbers, the Ravens didn’t field a team, instead, opting to share a program with Mid-Prairie and having Drey serve as an assistant under head coach of the Golden Hawks Danny Hershberger. Drey, a Nebraska native, played high school class B sports (the equivalent of 4A in Iowa) at Gretna high school in the Cornhusker state. He attended Nebraska and Iowa Wesleyan post high school, playing basketball at both and serving as a graduate assistant at IWU. Highlights in Drey’s first year as head man included his first career victory, Saturday, December 11th in a pasting of Rivermont Collegiate 64-15 at Hillcrest Union in Kalona, the program’s first win since 2020 due to the stoppage. The Ravens had three players awarded with All-Superconference spots including Esther Hughes on the second team and Malia Yoder and Leah Bontrager honorable mention.

Tune in Wednesday for the eighth biggest story from Hillcrest sports last year when we highlight the sharp shooting boys basketball team.