HINTON, Iowa — Competition has a way of bringing out a different side of Karlyn Kovarna.
Away from the game, the Hinton High School senior is a soft-spoken but genuine and friendly teen.
But put the four-sport athlete in uniform, and her attitude shifts to a whatever-the-team-needs, determined and fearless competitor.
“When I step on the court, it’s like I’m in a different world,” Kovarna said. “At home I’m in one world, at school I’m in another and playing sports takes me to another world, and the competitive side of me just clicks.”
The Journal’s Athlete of the Week, Kovarna has been an all-stater in two sports (volleyball and softball), was named to the Class 2A all-state tournament team during the Blackhawks’ undefeated run to a state title last season and also finished 16th at last season’s War Eagle Conference girls’ golf tournament.
“Each sport has taught me different lessons,” she said. “I just like staying busy. Mainly, I just like playing sports with my friends to have fun.”
For the Class 2A No. 3-ranked Hinton volleyball team this season, Kovarna is just one of several highly capable hitters in the Blackhawks’ rotation, but this may prove to be Kovarna’s best season on the defensive side of the net.
While teammate Bailey Boeve has led the state in blocks multiple times at Hinton, this season, Kovarna leads the team in blocks at one per set (43 total), a number that ranks seventh in Class 2A.
“Karlyn has always provided a calm but dominating presence on the court,” Hinton volleyball co-head coach Kate Ortegren said. “Karlyn is such a strong all-around player. She’s able to play about any position we need her to.
“Her sophomore year, she was a right side hitter/blocker, which allowed her to really work on those blocking skills and attacking angles. Last year, she started playing on the outside, but due to team injuries, she moved to the middle.”
Among the players ahead of her on the list, none of them average more digs per set than Kovarna does (1.2 per set).
She’s third on the team in kills at 64 on the season and is fresh off recording career kill No. 500 while her robust swing percentage of .437 is well above her previous single-season best efficiency of .350, which she posted last season.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Kovarna said. “It feels great to have my hard work pay off with something like this and have my teammates by my side.”
For Kovarna, the back half of the 2024 season marked a bit of uncharted territory after Boeve was injured.
The duo has grown together, playing for both Hinton and their club teams, and has formed a yin-and-yang chemistry on the court. However, without Boeve, Kovarna had to pick up the slack, as Hinton made it to the 2A regional finals behind Kovarna playing some of her best volleyball as the team’s go-to hitter.
“Someone had to step up, and I wanted to be the one to do it,” Kovarna said. “After (Bailey) got hurt, we didn’t want to let her down. So we worked really hard to go as far as we could. We all stepped up mentally and vocally, too. Usually, I’m not as loud and vocal as Bailey on the court, so we couldn’t really miss out on having someone like that on the court. (Bailey is) my comfort person. If I make a bad pass or mess up, she’s always the first one there to smile and tell me to move on.”
“(Karlyn has) been my best friend since the beginning,” Boeve said. “We’ve always celebrate each other’s successes. We basically came together as a duo.”
At the conclusion of the 2024 season, Kovarna was named Class 2A all-state, all-Northwest District and all-War Eagle Conference first team as she finished the campaign with 304 kills (3.9 per set), 75 total blocks, 179 digs and 27 aces to go with an 86.3% serve success rate.
“She had always played middle in her younger years, so she adjusted well to that role right away,” Ortegren said of Kovarna’s adjustment after Boeve went out. “This year, we kept her in the middle because her blocking has become such a strong part of her game.
“Being able to accept her role and do her best at the position she is asked to play shows her teammates what it is like to be a true team player. Team players do what is best for the team, and Karlyn exemplifies that. She is also very positive and encouraging to her teammates. She likes to smile and joke around with them on the court to keep things loose. She loves to see her teammates succeed.”
She ended the season with the most kills, most blocks and second-best kill efficiency in the War Eagle Conference.
“Every year, Karlyn has improved her game. She’s put in a lot of time during the season and during the offseason,” Ortegren said. “By her junior year, she had improved so much in her all-around game (that) she became a starting six-rotation middle.
“She is extremely confident and comfortable in the back row now as well as the front row. As a senior, she is playing middle front and left back. We like having her in the left back because of her ability to watch the other team’s defense and read what’s coming. All of the work she’s put in and the improvements she has made throughout the years have made Karlyn an extremely valuable player for our team.”
On the softball diamond, Kovarna is a two-time all-stater who’s hit .377 or better over the last two seasons.
During Hinton’s run to a regional final last summer, Kovarna notched 20 RBIs, five home runs, seven doubles, 20 runs scored, five stolen bases and five stolen bases while displaying a fielding percentage of nearly 95% playing third base for the Blackhawks.
During her sophomore season, Kovarna had a .421 average to go with a .522 on-base percentage with 17 RBIs, 12 extra-base hits and 31 runs scored.
As has been true with all of her sports, the biggest games brought out the best in Kovarna during Hinton’s state title run in hoops.
In the team’s three state tournament games, she averaged nine rebounds a game. In the state championship, Kovarna made half of her four shot attempts to finish the game with five points, 10 rebounds, three steals, two blocks and an assist.
“It was a fun ride,” she said. “At the start of the season, I didn’t think we’d make it that far.”
Even though she’s already established as one of Hinton’s top multi-sport athletes, Kovarna is trying to make the most of the time she has left playing sports as she plans to hang it up after she graduates to attend South Dakota State University to major in interior design.
Until then, Hinton opponents, beware.
“She leads by example on the court in practice and in games,” Ortegren said. “Her teammates know she’s a force, and her opponents know she is a force. She does her job and takes care of business.”
“I just like playing (at Hinton) and having the community support behind us that we do,” Kovarna said. “When it comes to sports, we just want to win. It’s not about the awards or anything like that, it’s just about going out there with your friends and trying to be your best.”
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