All-Minnesota Boys Volleyball Player of the Year: Owen Barnett of Hopkins

The calls became louder as the season went on during boys volleyball matches for Hopkins, a program that co-ops with St. Louis Park and Minnehaha Academy.

Whimsical in nature, typical of the irreverence of high school boys, but heard every time Owen Barnett soared above the net for a kill.

A call of “O B Schmittman” would echo throughout the gym, followed by another.

Barnett, a senior outside hitter, knows who coined the nickname but claims no idea of the origin.

“It came from Alistair Halls, another player on the team,” Barnett said. “It’s kind of goofy, but I hear it all the time now. Sometimes 30 times a game.”

Owen Barnett entered the boys volleyball state tournament leading the state with 511 kills. The 6-foot-3 senior with the 37-inch vertical leap also registered 91 digs, 80 service aces, 27 blocks and 338 serve receives, helping Hopkins become one of eight teams to compete in the inaugural Minnesota State High School League boys volleyball state tournament. Those accomplishments result in him being named the 2025 Star Tribune All-Minnesota Boys Volleyball Player of the Year.

Barnett was among the many boys volleyball supporters crushed when, in 2022, the MSHSL’s representative assembly failed by a single vote to get the two-thirds majority needed to ratify the sport.

“That was really disappointing,” Barnett recalled, stating the vote brought a new sense of purpose to boys volleyball supporters. “My dad was one guy who wasn’t quiet after that. There were all these close votes, and we weren’t sure it was going to pass.”

When the proposal did pass resoundingly the following year, Barnett and many like him felt a mixture of relief and vindication. A volleyball-only athlete who began playing at Minnesota Select Volleyball Club as a seventh-grader (he now plays for Team’Sota, a boys volleyball club), Barnett, who attends St. Louis Park High School, believed the sport would get the recognition it deserved.

“At the club level, it was a little bit of a niche sport, but we have an amazing community and play at a really high level,” he said. “We were all excited for a chance to grow the sport.”

With his low-key approach, Hopkins coach Zach Awsumb said it’s no surprise that Barnett emerged as the team leader.

“He never gets rattled,” said Awsumb, who is also the head girls coach at Columbia Heights High School. “I’ve never coached a kid who is that calm in big spots. He doesn’t get upset. If he sees something isn’t right; he will go over to the player, talk about it and move on.”

Barnett’s leadership was vital to the Royals’ success in close matches, highlighting a five-set rally over Wayzata, the No. 1 seed, in their section final to make the tournament.

“In every five-set match, he’s gotten near 30 kills, and 10 of them are always in the fifth set,” Awsumb said. “He’s been a dream to coach.”

Barnett will matriculate at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Business next year. He’s not quite ready to abandon volleyball, however. He wants to join the men’s club team at the school and hopes to land a supporting role in the women’s varsity program.

But for now, he’s just relishing what has been accomplished this year.

“Seventy percent of our guys had never touched a volleyball before this season,” he said. “I’m just so proud of our team.”