Volleyball: Cissna Park’s Lucht repeats as Daily Journal Player of the Year

Few area athletes in recent years have been able to put together the kind of career that Cissna Park’s Addison Lucht is in the midst of.

Already a two-time member of the All-Area teams for track and field, basketball and softball, she is now a three-time All-Area volleyball player. As the 2024 Daily Journal Volleyball Player of the year, she has now earned that honor in consecutive seasons.

But one of the more remarkable things about Lucht’s high school athletic career is that it’s just barely halfway done.

The junior is currently in the middle of basketball season that began just two days after she helped lead the volleyball team to a third-place finish at the IHSA Class 1A Volleyball State Finals, a finish that capped off a 36-4 season for Lucht and the Timberwolves, their second state trip in as many years.

A repeat Illinois Volleyball Coaches Association Class 1A All-Stater, Lucht had 377 kills on the season, trailing only her 395 last year in school history. She also set the school record for career kills, now at 1,020.

Despite all of the milestones and accomplishments she has earned on the volleyball court, volleyball is not something she is able to dedicate all her time to. As a four-sport athlete throughout high school, she rolls straight from volleyball into basketball, and then from basketball into track and softball in the spring and summer.

While that may seem like it would hamper progress in each individual sport, instead Lucht said that playing a variety of sports has allowed her to become a more well-rounded athlete, and also allowed her to feed her competitive fire.

“I would say that playing four sports makes me athletic and just really competitive,” she said. “I’m always wanting to win and do whatever it takes to win.”

The spring, where she balances time on the track and as the shortstop on the softball team, but her coaches are always there to make sure she is able to make it through the year while competing at her best.

Volleyball head coach Josh Landon said that while Lucht’s athletic ability is impressive, it’s her mental side that’s allowed her to develop those talents and put them toward positive results.

“She’s just really driven; she’s driven to be successful, she holds herself accountable,” Landon said, “You can see that on the floor. When she makes mistakes she owns it, and is also hoping she’s getting the ball right back to her, whether it be on a serve or from her setters. That allows her to continue to grow as a player and learn from those mistakes.”

Thanks in large part to those traits, Lucht has found plenty of individual success on the volleyball court. But she said that it is never something she thinks about. Instead, it is just a product of the entire team playing together at a high level.

“I think it was just a great season, and our team was really determined this year,” she said. “I think that with that comes the personal success. I don’t ever try to focus on that during the games or anything, it just comes with the success we had and the bond that we were able to create this season. My teammates are a big part of that.”

Among those teammates are fellow juniors Sophie Duis and Josie Neukomm. Duis earned second-team all-state honors this season for the second year in a row while Neukomm earned a spot as an honorable mention.

The trio has been playing together since they were in fifth grade, and Lucht said the bond they have built in that time has made the recent volleyball success even sweeter.

“It’s been awesome, just growing up with them and taking the same classes with them all throughout high school,” she said. “We know each other really well and we’ve been able to grow that bond and just know that our time in high school is limited. ... I think we understand that and just work hard every day, because nothing is guaranteed.”

Landon said that he expects the team, led by those three players as seniors next season, will only grow tighter and more determined. With one more volleyball season ahead as a group, a return trip to state is already on the mind.

“Time is limited now, and they’re going to rally around each other and make the biggest bond that they can on whatever playing field they’re on,” Landon said. “That’s what you hope for from high school student-athletes. You enjoy opportunities to coach classes with the athleticism that this group has, and you hope you can continue to see those pieces fall into place.”

With Lucht’s impressive athletic and academic resume, there will certainly be plenty of opportunities that will present themselves as she moves beyond high school. Landon said that the “sky is the limit” for her in the future, but Lucht said that she is currently focused on enjoying her remaining time treasuring the memories she has and finishing up strong to make some more.

“These memories are going to last forever, and I think that cherishing every moment with my teammates is something I want to do for the last year and a half,” she said. “I think that we’ve obviously had lots of success in the past, but that’s behind us. It’s something to celebrate and not forget about, but I think that with one year left, we want to go out with a bang and finish on the biggest stage if that’s possible.”

https://daily-journal.com/sports/volleyball-cissna-parks-lucht-repeats-as-daily-journal-player-of-the-year/article_8d45b834-be3b-11ef-a60c-e36ba05c6b6c.html