Four volleyball players from the Chillicothe area have earned All-Ohio honors from the Ohio High School Volleyball Coaches Association, headlined by Chillicothe senior Evelyn Hamman, who was named first-team All-Ohio in Division III when the association released its honors on Sunday, Nov. 8, the Chillicothe Gazette reported.
Hamman’s season explains the honor. The outside hitter totaled 579 kills, 37 aces, 83 blocks and 216 digs, the Gazette reported, while leading her Cavaliers to an 18-7 record, a share of the Frontier Athletic Conference title and a district semifinal appearance. It is the kind of two-way stat line — dominant at the net and productive in the back row — that coaches across the state reward when they build an All-Ohio first team.
In Division V, Zane Trace junior Karlee Snavely earned second-team All-Ohio honors, the Gazette reported. Snavely helped the Pioneers win a district championship while tallying 474 kills, 51 aces, 46 blocks and 229 digs — every one of those numbers a team high, according to the Gazette. As a junior, she returns next fall as one of the most decorated players in the Scioto Valley Conference.
Adena placed two players on the Division V lists, the Gazette reported. Senior Kimmy Dalton was a third-team selection, and junior Jacey Jones collected honorable mention honors, giving the Warriors recognition on both sides of the ball after a postseason run to the Elite 8.
Dalton’s honor came from the floor up. The Gazette reported she was the Scioto Valley Conference Defensive Player of the Year, collecting 587 digs and 535 serve receptions, and she added 35 aces for good measure. In a sport where the flashiest numbers usually belong to hitters, Dalton’s All-Ohio selection is a reminder that the area’s deepest postseason run was built on keeping rallies alive.
Jones, meanwhile, was Adena’s breakout story. The junior “came out of her shell in a big way,” the Gazette reported, leading the Warriors with 505 kills alongside 42 aces, 31 blocks and 114 digs. A 500-kill season from a junior is rare air in the Scioto Valley, and it sets Adena up with a proven finisher at the net for next season.
What we know — and what we’re still waiting on
What we know: the coaches association released its All-Ohio teams on Sunday, and four players from three area schools — Chillicothe, Zane Trace and Adena — made the lists across Divisions III and V, with every stat line above reported by the Chillicothe Gazette from the association’s honors. Between them, the four accounted for more than 1,550 kills, 165 aces and 1,100 digs in a single fall season. What we are still waiting on: the complete statewide picture beyond the area’s selections, and any postseason awards still to come from conference and district voting.
The honors also say something about the level of volleyball in Ross County and the Scioto Valley this fall. Chillicothe shared a league title and reached a district semifinal, Zane Trace won a district championship, and Adena played into the Elite 8 — three programs, three deep seasons, and now four All-Ohioans to show for them, spread evenly between the net and the back row.
The timing underlines how strong the area’s fall was. The honors arrived on the Sunday after Ohio’s regional finals weekend, when programs across the state were playing for state semifinal berths — and the three Ross County-area programs honored here had each just finished the kind of season that puts players in front of the coaches who vote: a shared conference championship in Chillicothe, a district title at Zane Trace, and an Elite 8 run at Adena, all reported by the Chillicothe Gazette in its account of the honors.
For the two seniors on the list, Hamman and Dalton, the All-Ohio selections close their high school careers with the highest statewide honor the coaches association gives. Hamman leaves Chillicothe as a first-team All-Ohioan on a conference-title team; Dalton leaves Adena as her conference’s defensive player of the year and a third-team All-Ohioan.
What happens next: attention turns to next season, when Snavely leads Zane Trace’s title defense as a returning second-team All-Ohioan and Jones anchors Adena’s attack as a returning honorable mention selection with a 505-kill season already on her resume. The standard for area volleyball has been set — and two of the players who set it will be back on the court next fall.