By Jon Akre

605 Sports

COLMAN — Brynlee Landis has had a storied volleyball career for Colman-Egan.

The 5-foot-8 senior outside hitter for the Hawks has started ever since the end of her eighth-grade season, helping CE reach the state tournament each of the past four seasons, including a runner-up finish in 2021.

Now in her senior season, Landis is hoping to get to the Hawks back to the state tournament one final time. 

And for a squad that lost eight seniors from last season, the first step to that playoff push is a signature win, which happened last Thursday when Colman-Egan swept Class B No. 5 Gayville-Volin.

“Especially right now cause we’re so young, so they kind of feed off of the intensity of the game,” Landis said. “When we’re up, we’re up and that’s when we need to start pushing. I’m kind of just the hype girl the way it is. I’ve been around volleyball a lot.”

Colman-Egan's Brynlee Landis goes for a kill during the Hawks' sweep over Gayville-Volin Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Colman. (Jon Akre / 605 Sports)

Landis says that win was one of the first times the Hawks have been a well-oiled machine, and it showed knocking off the Raiders again just two days later. CE is now 14-2, sitting as the No. 2 seed in Region 3B, and the No. 5 overall seed in all of Class B volleyball.

“It was super exciting to see how much we’ve changed, especially losing all those eight seniors last year and we have a bunch of young bucks that have started proving who they really are and it’s just so fun to watch for me.”

But this past week of volleyball has been an especially memorable one for Landis as she recorded her 1,000th career dig in the win over the Raiders last Thursday, following it up with her 1,000th career kill just two days later at the Sanford Pentagon volleyball tournament.

Congratulations to Brynlee Landis on getting her 1000th kill at the Sanford Pentagon Tournament today! She just got her 1000th dig earlier in the week! Congratulations and keep up the hard work!! https://t.co/yo4psOJKEa pic.twitter.com/2hch1bgbNG

; ColmanEgan (@CEHawks13) September 27, 2025

“I’ve been asking if I’m close to either one of them, and honestly I thought I was closer to my kills more than my digs and so when everybody started screaming I was like ‘Wait guys, is it my kills or my digs.’ ” Landis said. “But my coach hadn’t told me at all where I was even at.”

And for Landis, who suffered two stress fractures in her foot during her freshman and sophomore years that sidelined her for nearly two months apiece, it was two goals she really wanted to achieve by the end of her career.

“That moment really showed me how much I’ve really worked for that,” said Landis. “I had a lot of goals and those two were at the top of my bucket list and to get them like back-to-back games, it was really a heartfelt moment for me. It just showed how much I could do in a short amount of time.”

After reaching both milestones, she was embraced by teammates and head coach Abigail Hemmer who Landis says has been “Like my second mom”.

“The emotion coach Hemmer showed to me when I scored both my 1,000th digs and kills, she hugged the crap out of me and even she was crying cause she couldn’t control her emotions and that just shows truly how much she cares about me as not only an athlete but a person,” Landis said.

Colman-Egan's Brynlee Landis serving during the Hawks' sweep over Gayville-Volin Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Colman. (Jon Akre / 605 Sports)

That type of support hasn’t just come from players and coaches on the team, but also the community of Colman-Egan that’s had her back throughout her athletic career.

“The community that Colman-Egan has, has been nothing but supportive,” Landis said. “You can see on every post of our success, our fans are nothing but positivity. They’re just ecstatic to see us succeed and that’s exactly what a community needs and that's exactly a community I want to be a part of.”

But for Landis, who’s also part of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), National Honor Society (NHS), and the Dakota Valley Conference Leadership team for CE, this fall will be her last time putting on a volleyball uniform as she’ll be playing college basketball for the Dordt Defenders.

As a 1,000 career point scorer on the hardwood, it was a late start to her recruiting journey with her first offer coming at the end of her junior year, but ultimately stuck with Sioux Center, Iowa, as her next home.

With her final playoff run with CE volleyball coming up in a few short weeks, Landis says the thing she’ll miss most about the sport is playing with her teammates, specifically her younger sister, Mauryn, who is the team's libero this season.

Colman-Egan's Brynlee Landis celebrates with teammates after a point during the Hawks' sweep over Gayville-Volin Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025, in Colman.

“I actually was thinking about this because I’ve always said ‘Eh volleyball, I like basketball more,’ but now that it’s kind of hit reality, I’m definitely going to miss my teammates,” Landis said. “My sister and I actually get to play this year, she’s the libero for us and that’s super special to me. So I’ll definitely miss playing with my sister and overall my teammates.”

And while it may not be her favorite sport, volleyball is still an important part of Landis’ athletic career.

“Colman-Egan volleyball honestly means the world to me,” said Landis. “It starts out the whole sports season for me and it sets a really good tone on how much community and togetherness we have. It really just pushes through the rest of the seasons that I have. I start out and I have to be a leader and I choose to be with my teammates inside and out of volleyball and that’s a really big thing for us.”