North Muskegon volleyball star voted top junior fall sports athlete in Muskegon

NORTH MUSKEGON, MI – The North Muskegon girls volleyball team closed out the weekend with a 2-1 finish at the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association city tournament with wins over Oakridge and Whitehall and a loss to Montague.

One of the key playmakers for the Norse was junior outside hitter Addie Falkowski, who registered 16 kills, 20 digs and two blocks in the trio of two-set matches.

“Addie is one of the hardest working players I have ever had the privilege to coach, and she loves her team,” said North Muskegon volleyball coach Kammi Eacker after Falkowski locked up her second Athlete of the Week award of the fall sports season last week.

“She’s been on varsity since her freshman year, and her role has changed every season, but her work ethic and attitude have not. She is positive, she is supportive, and she is above all, kind to everyone. She always seeks feedback, good or bad, leads with a team-first mentality, and she always celebrates her teammates’ success more than her own.”

On the season, Falkowski has recorded more than 150 kills, 35 aces, 150 digs and 30 blocks to go along with a 2.3 serve-receive rating.

“This season is her best yet,” added Eacker. “She’s playing freer than she ever has and her defense and back-row attack improvements have made her a staple in our lineup to play all the way around. She serves tough and consistently too.

“The sheer amount of work and dedication she has given to improve her game and become a vocal and stat leader on her team is endlessly impressive to me. She is even more impressive as a person than she is as a volleyball player, and the sky is truly the limit for her. She has a heart of gold and an absolute cannon for an arm.”

Another key player in the North Muskegon rotation is junior setter Olivia Peterson, who has recorded more 70 kills, 30 aces, 400 assists, 100 digs and 25 blocks so far this season.

“OP has a work ethic that’s on another level,” added Eacker. “I don’t know where she finds the time, energy, and drive to do all she does, but she spends all summer at camps and clinics, coming to open gyms, weight lifting, etc. Her off-season is filled with club tournaments and more workouts and lessons. She even did a setting camp this summer where they got 60k reps in 4.5 days.

“She’s the definition of ”If you want it, go get it” and she is her own driving motivator. Nobody makes her sign up for all of this, and nobody makes her work out. She just loves volleyball and loves the game and wants to get better any chance she gets.”

The dynamic duo of Falkowski and Peterson caught the attention of MLive and Muskegon Chronicle readers this past week, as the two standouts for the Norse were voted the top Muskegon-area Fall Sports Stars for the Class of 2026.

Falkowski finished with 46 percent of the total votes to take top honors in the poll, while Peterson was right behind her teammate with 40 percent of the total votes to finish runner-up in the final standings.

Reeths-Puffer volleyball standout Mairyn Peterson finished third overall in the voting process after registering more than 90 kills and 25 blocks this season, while North Muskegon girls cross country standout Sylvia Skujins was fourth overall after posting a season-best time of 21:51.5 at the WMC Rivers Conference jamboree on Oct. 1.

Kent City volleyball standout Laynee Hoffman rounded out the Top 5 vote-getters after recording more than 170 kills, 30 aces, 300 digs and 20 blocks this season.

We’ll continue our Fall Sports Star project on Tuesday with the top underclassmen standouts from the Muskegon area.

Below are the final results of this week’s poll.

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