Westside senior Madilyn Siebler has played volleyball for the Warriors at the varsity level for her entire high school career. In that time, she has aided head coach Korrine Bowers in redefining Westside volleyball and raising the program to a new level.

Influenced by her mom, her coach and her teammates, Siebler developed a love for the sport of volleyball. Siebler finished her senior season with a run at the Class A State Tournament and just one week later, she signed a National Letter of Intent to Montana State.

It was inevitable for Siebler to become involved with volleyball. Erin Siebler, Madilyn’s mom, played on a national championship team at UNO with Korrine Bowers. Despite her own successful volleyball career, Mrs. Siebler didn’t want to force Madilyn into the sport, instead choosing to let her decide for herself if she wanted to play.

“I loved volleyball and I wanted to expose her to it but I didn’t want to push it too soon,” Erin Siebler said. “Volleyball is a hard sport to play when you’re little. I just exposed her to small things here and there until she was 12 or 13 and then let her decide if she liked it. Through middle school she enjoyed it and it wasn’t until the end of eigth grade when she decided to take on a bigger commitment in club volleyball.”

Siebler had undeniable talent and athleticism on the volleyball court. Coach Bowers, in her first year of coaching at Westside, saw Siebler’s talent and knew she had to play on the varsity team. During her freshman season, Siebler played in all 90 sets and tallied up 224 kills, more than anyone on the team. She also had 247 digs in that season, putting her second only to the team’s libero.

In four years on the varsity team, Siebler has played in all but two sets, and she led the team in kills until her senior season. The difference in kills this season is due to position changes. Before the season started, Madilyn offered to fill the setter position instead of owning an offensive spotlight as an outside hitter.

“I’d called Korrine this summer and offered to set,” Siebler said. “I had to set a little bit in club so I knew that I could take on that role and I was ready. I knew that we would have the talent in every other position on the team to still be a strong team without a real setter. It was an adjustment over the season, not being the stereotypical outside hitter who gets all the kills, but it was no problem for me to go to the rightside pin and fill that role. I just focused on my leadership and what I could do best in that role, which is blocking and defense. It was tough but I knew that’s what was best and I threw myself into it. It was a win-win for everyone.”

Siebler’s team-first attitude and leadership on the team is why she was named one of three team captains this season; it’s a role she’s been preparing to fill since her freshman year.

“I think coming in as a freshman and being the only freshman was a big factor,” Siebler’s mom said. “She had upperclassmen to look up to but she also knew that she was going to be the one helping to grow the program so she would have to be a leader relatively early. I would say basketball helped her with that as well. The basketball culture has really strong leadership that she got to see at the state level her freshman and sophomore year. I think that helped her become a leader in the volleyball program. I think she knew it would be her and she had a lot of underclassmen coming in right under her. She watched and saw some other leaders that she’d been exposed to and kinda saw what she wanted that to look like for herself.”

In her senior season, Siebler helped lead a team full of talent to Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln. It was the team’s first appearance at the state tournament since 2002, and it wouldn’t have happened without Siebler and the other seniors on the team.

“Madilyn came in [to Westside] with me,” head coach Korrine Bowers said. “I’m not going anywhere, but I’m really going to miss her because she and the other seniors built that foundation. This was a big year for Westside volleyball.”

Just over a week after Seibler’s last game as a Warrior, she signed a National Letter of Intent for Montana State. Siebler is also a varsity basketball player, but she wanted to follow in her mom’s footsteps and play volleyball at the collegiate level.

“My mom probably had a lot to do with my decision,” Siebler said. “She played volleyball in college so as I started playing, I wanted to be like her. I haven’t really gotten good at basketball until the past year and I still don’t see myself as a true basketball player. I honestly never thought about basketball in college. I think I was just following in my mom’s footsteps. She played at UNO and won a national championship and that’s the path I always saw for myself.”

Siebler committed to being a Bobcat on October 14, 2020, during her junior season. She made the decision after visiting the school and getting to know the coaches and teams.

”We talk about college being a puzzle,” Siebler’s mom said. “There are a lot of things that you have to fit together like the location and what type of campus you want to be at. You want to like the coaches and get a feel of the players and see if you might fit into the program. After we visited a couple schools the summer after her sophomore year, I think she thought all of those pieces fit together at Montana State. She loved the campus, loved the city, really liked the coach and  the team seemed like a good fit. It all really came together.”

Siebler could very possibly be one of the best volleyball players Westside has ever had at the school. The proof is in her statistics, her budding college volleyball career, and the team’s success. Siebler’s mom, however, takes more pride in Madilyn’s visible passion for the sport.

“Especially this year, I’ve had many people come up to me and say ‘she is so fun to watch.’ It’s in her energy and her excitement and how competitive she is. I can be proud of her for statistics or anything like that but really, that’s not what I’m thinking about. When people come to me and say they like watching her play, I love it.”

Siebler’s leadership during the 2021 season helped lay the foundation for Westside’s success on the court. This could be the opening chapter in a journey for the school’s first state volleyball championship in the future.