WAYNE – Boone Central was the surprise team at the Wayne State team camp on Friday, reaching the championship pool and, in essence, finished fourth in the 27-team field with a 3-3 set record in the championship pool.
Boone Central went 14-14 a year ago and graduated its setter and top attacker, but that didn’t stop the Cardinals from finishing second in its seven-team morning-session pool, which also included pool winner Crofton as well as Ord, Wisner-Pilger, Yankton, Wahoo and Hartington.
Dakota Valley of South Dakota was the unofficial camp winner by going 6-2 in the championship round. North Bend’s 4-2 record was second best while Stanton and Boone Central each went 3-3. Crofton and Wayne each finished the championship pool at 2-4 while Hinton was 1-5.
Below are notes and thoughts from the Wayne State team camp:
North Bend’s success early this summer is a good sign for the Tigers. North Bend will be one of the biggest benefactors of sub-state coming to Classes C-1 and C-2 this year because the Tigers, for several years now, have been stuck in one of Class C-1’s most brutal four-team subdistricts with both Columbus Lakeview and Columbus Scotus. The past two years North Bend has gone a combined 47-12 but hasn’t been able to get out of its subdistrict. Two big reasons to be excited if you’re North Bend is 6-foot-1 junior Kristin Lux & 5-11 junior Brooke Fredrickson. Lux is a freakish leaper with a super upside but still fairly raw. She was light’s out at the AAU National Championships in Orlando for her Nebraska Juniors team and is getting serious recruiting attention from Big 12 and Big 10 schools. Frederickson isn’t as tall or as athletic, but she drops the hammer pretty hard and definitely turned some heads today. North Bend reached the championship pool after winning its morning pool, which included Lutheran High NE, Ainsworth and Ewing.
The last four seasons Stanton has improved its win total from 23, 25, 32 and 33 matches. It will be tough for Stanton to exceed the 33 from last year when they finished as Class C-2 runners-up, but I’m not about to bet against the Mustangs – especially after the way they played today. With Mackenzie Brandl, Jessie Brandl and Bree Burtwistle on the court, Stanton will be tough to beat every night out.
Crofton won its morning pool against teams like Wahoo, Ord and Wisner-Pilger and while the Warriors are better known for their basketball success, they certainly looked like a team with the athletes to make a fourth-straight trip to state in volleyball. Monica Arens, a 5-10 senior, has the ability to approach 350-400 kills this year.
Wayne took a set from both Crofton and Stanton in championship play. The Blue Devils won their pool in the morning against Columbus Scotus, Omaha Central and Yutan. Wayne had some nice wins last year in a 19-13 season and could be a team to watch in Class C-1 this year as it brings back three of its top four attackers and both of its setters from a year ago. Allison Echtenkamp, a 5-10 senior, is an all-state caliber player.
Diller-Odell, last year’s Class D-1 runner-up, fell victim to being in the same morning pool as eventual champion Dakota Valley. The Griffins, you could say, rebounded well later in the day and swept a pair of Class B teams in Columbus and South Sioux City.
Wahoo and Omaha Central split in a really competitive match. The Warriors are going to be a team nobody wants to see in late October and November. They are going to be young and it might show this summer and at the start of the season, but they are going to be really, really good. Wahoo also swept Pierce in the afternoon session.
Just eight months ago Ord was playing for the Class C-1 state title, but on this day the Chanticleers won about as many sets as they lost. That’s the beauty of summer camps, because Ord is clearly going to use this summer to find replacements for its all-state setter and libero and two of its top three attackers from last year. Ord will be just fine, though. Andrea Carson and Danielle Bruha are about as good of a hitting duo as you’ll find in Class C-1 and Cora Svoboda is an athletic and “springy” 6-foot middle.
Tomorrow we continue our tour of summer team camps by going to Nebraska Wesleyan.
