Bobcats’ Rogers taking love for volleyball to the next level

T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE – Marshalltown High School senior Madison Rogers, second from right, recently signed her National Letter of Intent to play volleyball at Iowa Central Community College next fall. Seated alongside Madison for her signing ceremony were her father Jon Rogers and stepmother Abby Rogers, and MHS volleyball coach Jen O’Neal (far left).

Madison Rogers always figured she’d grow up to be a softball player. That was until she tried volleyball.

Rogers, a Marshalltown High School senior, signed her National Letter of Intent last week to continue her volleyball career at Iowa Central Community College in Fort Dodge next fall.

The 5-foot-10 middle hitter transferred in from Indianola during the 2023-24 volleyball season, playing in just six matches for Marshalltown, but an offseason full of club volleyball and camps brought her future into focus.

After a season in which she earned second-team all-Iowa Alliance Conference North Division honors, Rogers signed off on the scholarship offer she received from Iowa Central head coach Sara Horn.

“It kind of just popped up out of nowhere,” Rogers said of the offer. “I went to one of their camps, spent three days with the girls, absolutely loved the drills, the coach and the girls. They were very welcoming and it was a great atmosphere that I wanted to go back to once I left.

“[Coach Horn] reached out first and said that she liked what she saw and that she would offer a scholarship.”

Rogers made the most of her senior campaign as a six-rotation player for the Bobcats, starting in all 36 matches this past fall. She was second on the team in kills (136), kill efficiency (.129) and blocks (51), third in service aces (24) and serving efficiency (92 percent) and first in digs (192).

Yes, first in digs.

“She’s a really hard worker, and it’s an advantage because she can play all six rotations,” said MHS first-year head coach Jen O’Neal. “She led our team in digs and that’s kind of rare for a middle hitter to be able to play six rotations and lead your team in digs.

“They’re getting a dynamic hitter but an all-around great player. Her volleyball IQ is really high, she also just works super, super hard, and obviously she has that will to win, a want-to-win attitude.”

Rogers says she’ll carry that same demeanor to Fort Dodge in the fall, where she doesn’t care what position she plays as long as she helps the team win. The Tritons finished this past season as the seventh-ranked team in NJCAA Division II, going 29-7 while bowing out in the regional semifinals.

“I played softball all my life, then one day I just tried volleyball my eighth-grade year,” she said. “So I went out for volleyball, I loved it, and my skills elevated really fast and I love the game. The game’s just fast and it’s nice to kill a ball and it’s nice to hit a ball hard, or just being able to set up a person. It’s just a whole different game.

“There was a time when it was just me and softball and volleyball and I couldn’t decide, but once I knew I was capable of more during volleyball I just focused on that way more because I was just leveled out with softball — I didn’t see the progression.”

Rogers averaged 1.4 kills per set in the six matches she competed in as a Bobcat junior, and that number climbed to 1.6 kills per set as a senior. As her abilities and responsibilities grew, so did her passion for the game.

“My love of volleyball is never going to go away for me,” she said. “I just always want to keep playing. I miss it so much whenever I’m not playing.”

O’Neal said that could be just about anywhere on the court, even at the next level.

“When she got here I knew she was definitely something special,” O’Neal said. “She just continues to work really hard. I’m really excited to continue to watch her play at Iowa Central and I can’t wait to cheer her on.

“I think it doesn’t matter where you put her on the court. We did toy around sometimes with her also hitting on the outside and she was just as dynamic of a hitter out there. I see her as very versatile, able to play any position you need her to play, and she’s going to work really hard at that.”