Omaha Marian and Papillion-LaVista have now competed in the state tournament 31 times each, tying them for the record for most times in the state tournament. By making state this year, Ogallala has tied Columbus Scotus for third place on the list with 30 appearances. Grand Island Central Catholic is fifth with 29 trips.
Omaha Marian and Grand Island Northwest are each making their 16th consecutive trip to the state tournament, which is tied for the fourth-longest streak of all time. Bellevue West (1987-2006) and Lincoln Pius X (1995-2014) each did it 20 straight years and Columbus Scotus (1989-2006) did it 18 times in a row. Kearney Catholic is making its 12th straight trip and Ogallala is in its 11th straight state tournament.
Among the teams in the state tournament this year, Hastings St. Cecilia and Omaha Marian have won the most state titles – with each taking home the championship seven times.
Kearney Catholic can win its fifth-straight state title this year, which is something only four other teams in state history have accomplished. Bellevue West and Shickley each won six straight state titles while Columbus Scotus and Republican Valley won five straight.
Omaha Marian is going for its fourth-straight Class A state title. Only Bellevue West has ever won that many Class A championships in a row and the T-birds did it twice, winning four in row from 2003-2006 and six in a row from 1992-1997.
If Omaha Marian reaches the Class A state final, it would tie Bellevue West for the most appearances in the Class A finals with 13 total. If Papillion-LaVista can make the Class A final, it would be the 12th trip to the championship for the Monarchs.
Kearney Catholic has played in six straight state finals and if the Stars reach the Class C-1 championship this year, it would be the second-longest streak in state history, behind Columbus Scotus’ state-record 14 straight trips to the finals.
The last time a team from outside the Metro Conference won the Class A championship was 1998 when Lincoln Northeast defeated Papillion-LaVista 15-9, 13-15, 15-7.
No team from Lincoln has reached the Class A championship match since 2001 when Papillion-LaVista defeated Lincoln Northeast 15-10, 15-17, 15-4.
Since 1989, the Class A title has been won by one of five schools, either Omaha Marian, Papillion-LaVista, Papillion-LaVista South, Bellevue West or Lincoln Northeast.
The last Class B team to go undefeated and win the state championship was Omaha Gross during a 31-0 season in 1999.
In Class C-1, five of the last seven state championship matches have gone to five sets.
Based on what I was able to find in looking through old stats and on MaxPreps, there are at least five seniors at the state tournament with more than 1,000 career kills. There are probably more that I was unable to get stats for, but the five are:
- Madison Jurgens of Diller-Odell with 1,413 (she also has 1,514 assists)
- Averey Yaksich of Omaha Concordia with 1,284
- Kalli Brester of Howells-Dodge with 1213
- Tara Callahan of Brady with 1,163
- Maddie Knobbe of Guardian Angels CC with 1035
There are 20 players in the state tournament that are committed to Division I schools. They are:
- Kathleen Medill, 6-foot-1, Sr., MH, Lincoln Pius X – Air Force
- Taliyah Flores, 5-foot-8, Jr., OH, Papillion-LaVista South – North Dakota
- Maggie Mullen, 5-foot-4, Jr., Libero/DS, Omaha Marian – Louisville
- Lily Heim, 6-foot, Jr., Setter, Omaha Marian – SMU
- Sarah Wing, 6-foot-1, Jr., MH, Omaha Marian – Iowa
- Emma Grunkemeyer, 6-foot-2, Soph., MH, Millard North – Iowa
- Jordan Daniels, 5-foot-7, Sr., Libero/DS, Millard West – Air Force
- Steph Gaston, 6-foot-5, Sr., RS, Papillion-LaVista – Creighton
- Melanie Brecka, 6-foot, Jr., MH, Lincoln Southeast – Missouri-Kansas City
- Brooke Heyne, 5-foot-10, Sr., OH, Skutt Catholic – Kansas State
- Alli Schomers, 5-foot-11, Sr., Setter, Skutt Catholic – Missouri-Kansas City
- McKenna Kirkpatrick, 6-foot-1, Sr., MH, Skutt Catholic – South Carolina Upstate
- Grace Nelson, 5-foot-9, Sr., Libero, Elkhorn – Ball State
- Claire Mountjoy, 5-foot-6, Sr., DS/OH, Elkhorn – Omaha
- Mallory Yost, 6-foot-1, Sr., MH, Gretna – UTEP
- Jaela Zimmerman, 6-foot-2, Jr., OH, Malcolm – Creighton
- Hayley Densberger, 5-foot-9, Sr., DS/OH, Malcolm – Nebraska
- Jadyn McCartney, 6-foot, Sr., OH, Chadron – Northern Colorado
- Madison Jurgens, 5-foot-10, Sr., Setter/RS, Diller-Odell – South Dakota
- Fallon Stutheit, 6-foot-1, Soph., MH, Johnson-Brock – Nebraska
The following players have not committed to Division I schools yet, but I wouldn’t be shocked if they are by the time the 2017 high school season starts next fall:
- Emily Bressman, 5-foot-10, Soph., OH, Omaha Marian
- Maddie Wiedenfeld, 6-foot-2, Jr., MH, Omaha Marian
- Emmy Grant, 6-foot-1, Soph., MH/RS, Millard North
- McKenna Ruch, 6-foot-1, Fresh., MH, Millard North
- Jordan McCormick, 5-foot-10, Soph., Libero/OH, Millard West
- Lily Heyne, 6-foot-1, Soph., OH/MH, Skutt Catholic
- Lauren Edet, 5-foot-10, Jr., OH, Elkhorn
- Emma Worthington, 5-foot-10, Soph., Setter, Omaha Duchesne
- Taylor Pribyl, 6-foot-2, Soph., OH, Omaha Concordia
- Kelsie Cada, 6-foot-1, Soph., OH, Bishop Neumann
- Kristin Lux, 6-foot-1, Jr., MH/OH, North Bend Central
- Mary Nibbe, 6-foot-2, Soph., Setter, Red Cloud
Every year you can guarantee that college coaches are in all the gyms for the state tournament, scouring the final matches of the high school season for those hidden gems. And, every year you can guarantee that coaches find them. Here is a list of players that are seniors that have not committed yet (as far as I know at least) that I think can make an impact at the next level (we’re talking NAIA, D3 & 2-Year schools here):
- Maddie Krajewski, 5-foot-3, Libero, Papillion-LaVista
- Aletra Long, 5-foot-11, OH, Lincoln Southeast
- Nikki White, 5-foot-5, DS, Skutt Catholic
- Heather Bills, 6-foot-1, RS, Elkhorn
- Jaisa Russell, 5-foot-8, Utility, Gretna
- Caitlin Makovicka, 5-foot-10, MH, Bishop Neumann
- Carson Poppe, 5-foot-10, Setter, Doniphan-Trumbull
- Makenna Niemoth, 5-foot-8, OH, Doniphan-Trumbull
- Lucy Skoch, 6-foot-2, MB, Hastings St. Cecilia
- MacKenzie Brandl, 5-foot-5, Libero, Stanton
- Liz Selting, 5-foot-9, OH, Elgin-Pope John
- Jaime Troester, 5-foot-8, Setter, Hampton
- Hailey Luzum, 5-foot-6, DS, Exeter-Milligan
- Taylor Coleman, 5-foot-11, Setter, O’Neill St. Mary’s
Here are a group of players that don’t get quite as much love as they deserve but will have a major impact on how things turn out this weekend:
- Abigail Noel, 5-foot-7, Sr., OH, Lincoln Pius X
- Mara LeGrand, 5-foot-9, Soph., Setter, Papillion-LaVista South
- Kaitlin Siefkes, 5-foot-4, Jr., Libero, Lincoln Southwest
- Mary Wolfe, 5-foot-11, Sr., RS, Omaha Marian
- Madison Johnson, 5-foot-11, Sr., RS, Millard North
- Bridget Petersen, 6-foot, Sr., MH, Millard West
- Mary Martincik, 6-foot, Soph., MH, Papillion-LaVista
- Megan Dobbs, 5-foot-5, Sr., Libero, Lincoln Southeast
- Keri Oswald, 5-foot-8, Sr., S/RS, Aurora
- Sydney McDermott, 6-foot-1, Soph., RS, Skutt Catholic
- Kamryn Schuler, 5-foot-9, Soph., OH, Gretna
- Payton Jung, 5-foot-10, Soph., MH, Sidney
- Kelsey Placke, 5-foot-11, Sr., MH, Grand Island Northwest
- Sami Clarkson, 5-foot-11, Soph., Setter, Omaha Concordia
- Brooke Frederickson, 5-foot-11, Jr., OH, North Bend Central
- Alexandria Nobiling, 5-foot-9, Sr., OH, Chadron
- Paige Vitosh, 5-foot-9, Sr., OH/S, Diller-Odell
- Jessie Brandl, 5-foot-7, Soph., OH, Stanton
- Emily Korlikowski, 5-foot-11, Jr., MH, Centura
- Erin Johnson, 5-foot-5, Jr., Setter, Meridian
The amount of young talent right now in Nebraska is off the charts. Here are players that are going to be mega-stars in the state in the years to come that very well may use the 2016 state tournament as their stage for bursting onto the scene:
- Sophie Hendrix, 5-foot-10, Fresh., OH, Papillion-LaVista South
- Jaden Ferguson, 5-foot-11, Soph., OH, Lincoln Southwest
- Maddie Wiedenfeld, 6-foot-2, Jr., MH, Omaha Marian
- McKenna Ruch, 6-foot-1, Fresh., MH, Millard North
- Izzy Lukens, 5-foot-9, Fresh., Setter, Millard North
- Hailey Petersen, 6-foot, Soph., MH, Millard West
- Chloe Paschal, 5-foot-7, Fresh., OH, Papillion-LaVista
- Megan Skovsende, 5-foot-11., Fresh., OH, Skutt Catholic
- Megan Raszler, 5-foot-7, Soph., Setter, Elkhorn
- Mayah Delgado-Walker, 5-foot-11, Fresh., MB, Omaha Duchesne
- Caroline Ortman, 5-foot-10, Fresh., MB, Omaha Duchesne
- Lydia Yost, 5-foot-9, Fresh., OH, Gretna
- Sabrina Starks, 6-foot-3, Jr., MH, Platteview
- Mattie Johnson, 5-foot-10, Fresh., RS, Sidney
- Hayley Fox, 6-foot-1, Soph., MH, St. Paul
- Lindsey Thiele, 6-foot, Fresh., MH, Bishop Neumann
- Lauren Emanuel, 6-foot-2, Fresh., MH, North Bend Central
- Olivia Micek, 5-foot-6, Soph., Setter, Kearney Catholic
- Mackenzie Vitosh, 5-foot-11, Fresh., MH, Diller-Odell
- Jada Cattau, 5-foot-11, Soph., OH, Hartington Cedar Catholic
- Victoria Thomas, 6-foot, Fresh., OH, Hastings St. Cecilia
- Halle Pribyl, 5-foot-10, Fresh., RS, Meridian
- Grace Frederick, 5-foot-9, Soph., MH, Dundy County-Stratton
- Morgan Nibbe, 6-foot-1, Jr., MH, Red Cloud
- Mary Nibbe, 6-foot-2, Soph., Setter Red Cloud
- Katherine White, 5-foot-8, Soph., OH, Exeter-Milligan
Please type in your name below to claim or create your Prep Dig player profile.
