Two Colfax volleyball players sign Letters of Intent

COLFAX — A pair of outstanding volleyball players from Colfax High School, Lakken Meredith and Marianne Scharlau will take their talents to the collegiate level next fall after signing an official Letter of Intent in a ceremony in the lobby of the high school February 5.

Meredith will receive an athletic/academic scholarship from Clarke University in Dubuque, Iowa to play for the Crusaders. Meredith is a two time First Team All Conference player and Dunn-St. Croix Conference Player of the Year as a senior for head coach Pam Meredith. Lakken finished her career with almost 2,000 assists but was also close to the top in ace serves, digs and kills for the Vikings in her three year varsity time.

“Lakken actually found us first,” Clarke coach Chris Miron, who attended the ceremony along with assistant coach Laurie Schroeder said. “She filled out our athletic survey and we watched some video of her. We were very impressed with her overall skill set. We will have her dual train as a setter and a defensive specialist/libero and we believe she will be able to compete for a varsity spot with her athletic ability,” he added.

Clarke is a NAIA  Division 2 school and will play in the Hearth of America Conference next year with 13 other teams from the Iowa and Nebraska area.

“I looked at a couple of other schools but decided on Clarke because it is small and only about three and a half hours from home,” Lakken said.

“I plan on going into physical therapy and they have an excellent program there. Playing college volleyball will be a big step for me but I am looking forward to the challenge.”

Coach (and mom) Pam Meredith believes Clarke will be a good fit for Lakken.

“The coaches pay a lot of attention to the players,” she said. “They came all the way up here for the signing and were impressed with our school and our training program. It will be hard work for Lakken but she has been a gym rat since grade school, following me around when I was coaching. This has been a dream for her since she was small. We hope we can get to some of her games but with me still coaching here, we may be watching a lot of them on the computer,” she added with a laugh.

Marianne will be going in another direction and will join former teammate Kori Buchanan at the University of Jamestown in North Dakota. The Jimmies are another NAIA school and Marianne will receive  an athletic/academic scholarship which she will use for the Nursing program. She was a two year starter for coach Meredith and a First Team All Conference player as a senior, leading the team in kills and in blocks from the middle of the net. She is projected as a middle or right side hitter for Jamestown head coach Jon Hegerle, who did not make it to the signing. The Jimmies play in the North Star Athletic Conference and finished second to Viterbo in the conference tournament last fall.

“I had a chance to visit the campus and knew about the volleyball program from Kori,” Marianne said. “I had also met the coach before and he saw me play at a couple of club volleyball tournaments. He thought I had the talent to help out in the front row for the team so I am very happy to have this chance to play. Playing with another Colfax player (Kori) will be helpful, too,” she added.

Coach Meredith was also pleased at the choice Marianne made.

“It is not a huge school but their program is very strong and they play excellent competition,” she said. “I think Marianne will do a nice job for them and with her work ethic she should be able to compete for a spot in the future for them,” she added.

Coach Meredith has also had former player Nicole Bradford play at the college level, four seasons with UW-Stout.