Predicting Tonight’s Big Matches: Thursday, Aug. 31
The 2017 high school volleyball season is starting to get serious now. Tonight marks the first real full slate of matches across the state and there will be lot of great volleyball taking place.
Here is a look at my predictions for the biggest matches of Thursday, Aug. 31.
Class A #9 Grand Island at Class A #3 Millard West
There isn’t much of a gap – if there is one at all – between Millard West and the top two teams in Class A (Millard North & Omaha Marian). Defensively, the Wildcats will frustrate teams like crazy. Grand Island brings in a strong team, but this is a tough way for the Islanders to start the season.
Prediction: Millard West in three.
Lincoln North Star at Class A #5 Lincoln Southwest
Lincoln Southwest is probably as balanced of a team as anyone in the state and has a pair of legitimate super stars in OH Jaden Ferguson and setter/OH Rachel Walker. The Silver Hawks are going to beat up on a few teams this year. Lincoln North Star lost a lot from last year and while the Gators are likely to get better as the season goes on, the inexperience will hurt them tonight.
Prediction: Lincoln Southwest in three.
Triangular with Class D-1 #1 Exeter-Milligan, Class D-1 #4 BDS and Hampton
Hampton, the defending Class D-2 champions, have a 36-match winning streak, but that likely comes to an end tonight considering the amount the Hawks lost from last year’s team and the strength of its opponents. The Exeter-Milligan and BDS match should be tight and will probably go three sets and should give us a pretty good idea of who the team to beat in the Crossroads Conference is to start the year.
Prediction: Exeter-Milligan 2-0; BDS 1-1; Hampton 0-2.
Triangular with Class C-1 #2 Grand Island Central Catholic, Class C-1 #8 Lincoln Christian and Class C-2 #4 Hastings St. Cecilia
The three Centennial Conference foes waste little time jumping right into tough matches to start the season. Grand Island CC is clearly the team to beat among the three. The interesting match should be between Lincoln Christian and Hastings St. Cecilia. The Hawkettes dropped a five-set decision to David City Aquinas to start the year. Lincoln Christian has yet to play this year. The question is whether the loss to Aquinas was a case of first-match jitters or not for Hastings St. Cecilia.
Prediction: Grand Island CC 2-0; Lincoln Christian 1-1; Hastings St. Cecilia 0-2.
Ord at St. Paul
Who is the best team in Class C-1 that isn’t ranked at the moment? Well, that could be the winner of tonight’s Ord/St. Paul match. As was pointed out in a recent article by our own Ali Rowse, Ord is a sleeper team in Class C-1. Despite a lot of new faces on the court and a new coach on the sideline, the Chants looked good against Minden to start the year. St. Paul, meanwhile, also has a lot of new faces after its dominating season a year ago. The winner here likely finds its way into the rankings next week.
Prediction: St. Paul in five.
Berk’s prediction record for 2017: 6-0