Club Preview: Nebraska Elite 17s
Tough breaks hit the Nebraska Elite 171 team hard this year several weeks before the season even began.
Iowa recruit Emma Grunkemeyer, a 6’3 junior from Millard North, suffered a back injury early in the high school season which will likely keep her out the entire club season as well. Then, 6’1 Elkhorn South junior Maddie Burt suffered what wound up being a career-ending injury late in the high school season.
Despite those two losses, the Nebraska Elite 171 team still looks to be in pretty good shape.
Omaha Duchesne’s Emma Worthington and Elkhorn’s Megan Raszler are the team’s setters. Worthington was the Class B Player of the Year and is also a threat as an attacker.
Defensively, Elite’s 171 squad has Omaha Marian defensive specialist Sophie Moes and Millard West’s Jordan McCormick, a Wayne State recruit.
Along the net, Nebraska Elite 171 is loaded with explosive athletes such as Tulsa recruit Lily Heyne of Skutt Catholic, Nebraska-Kearney recruit Michaela Bartels of Bennington, Tennessee-Chatanooga recruit MacKenzie Saitta of Elkhorn South, Millard North’s Emmy Grant, Omaha Burke’s Lily O’Mara and newcomer Madison Harms of Sargent Bluff, Iowa.
Members of the Nebraska Elite 172 team are Jordan Bowen, Grace Jensen, Maggie McElhose, Kelsey Olson, Macey VanAckeren, Paige Holdsworth, Morgan Lihs, Riley Miller, Elizabeth Rupprecht and Lauren Walenz.