Former Wolverine standouts lovin’ it at the next level

Only a small percentage of high school student athletes are able to move on and play at the next level. Former Nodaway Valley standouts Genevieve Livingston and Bailey Carstens are making the most of their opportunity playing in college volleyball.

Both girls finished their college seasons recently — Livingston at Buena Vista University in Storm Lake and Carstens at Simpson College in Indianola — and report they grew individually and as part of their teams this fall.

“I think we had a lot of good things happen this season. You always look back and are overly critical saying we should’ve done this or we should’ve done this. At the end of the day you have to celebrate that we won a conference game for the first time in like three years, and that was a big deal for us,” Livingston said.

Livingston, appearing in 31 sets and 11 matches at the varsity level, plus some junior varsity action, has moved into more of a defensive specialist or libero role at the college level — as opposed to a hitter, like she was in high school.

The Beavers’ varsity team went 8-16 overall and finished 1-6 in the American Rivers Conference.

“The conference game we won was our last one at home. I think we played well in conference. We have a tough conference. We play a lot of tough teams and played with a lot of them,” Livingston said. “Getting that one win was a point we needed to reach. I do feel really good heading into the spring and next year. We’ll be able to build on that a lot.”

In the same conference as BVU, Simpson is another volleyball program on the rise. The Storm finished 19-8 on the season and 5-3 in the ARC. At the varsity level, Carstens, who is a freshman, appeared in two sets this season.

Simpson’s season, under first-year head coach Dani Kohut Lynch, ended two games deep into the league tournament.

“I would say our program is on the rise. We hadn’t gone this far in the conference tournament since about 2010, so we’re definitely getting better,” Carstens said. “I loved this season. The coaches are amazing, the teammates are amazing, the atmosphere is amazing. All good things to say about it, athletically and the relationships I’ve built with everyone.”

Carstens primarily played in a junior varsity role this year and feels she benefited greatly from that.

“One of the first conversations I had with our head coach was I told her I want to trust her process. I know I’m not the best player on the team, but I really want to get better. I’m going to trust the process, I’m going to do all the things. The mindset I had for the season was that I want to help my team as best as possible,” Carstens said. “Going into college, this is a different level and different atmosphere, but I love the competitiveness of it all. When you’re with these girls day in and day out for everything, it’s a really special bond you have with all of them.”

Livingston and Carstens’ teams faced each other Sept. 24 with Simpson winning in four sets.

Livingston is studying psychology with minors in sociology and criminology with a victim advocacy trek. Carstens is studying pre-dietetics.