BDS Holds Off Ewing to Take D1/D2 Division Title at Nebraska Top 10

KEARNEY – If the Nebraska Top 10 Camp at Kearney Catholic is any indication – and it usually is – BDS and Ewing have firmly planted their flags as state challengers in Class D-2. BDS won the D1/D2 championship on…

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KEARNEY – If the Nebraska Top 10 Camp at Kearney Catholic is any indication – and it usually is – BDS and Ewing have firmly planted their flags as state challengers in Class D-2.

BDS won the D1/D2 championship on Sunday by virtue of having the best championship pool record at 16-2. Ewing finished second at 14-4. When the two teams played each other, they split the match with BDS winning the first set 25-19 and Ewing taking the second 25-17.

Exeter-Milligan, the defending Class D-2 state championships that defeated Ewing in the state finals last November, will play in the C2 division of the camp on Monday and Tuesday.

Complete records and results for the D1/D2 division are located at the end of the story.

Coming into Sunday morning, it was actually Ewing which controlled its own destiny with a 7-1 mark, but the Tigers wound up going 7-3 today while BDS came in at 6-2 and ran the table today at 10-0.

Led by senior outside Jadyn Kleinschmidtand junior setter/RS Regan Alfs, BDS was impressive all day Sunday. BDS doesn’t have great size (Alfs is their tallest player at 5’11) but is able to put six really good players on the court at the same time and they’re an aggressive team.

Truthfully, Ewing let a couple sets slip away from it that it probably shouldn’t have early in the day and that came back to bite the Tigers. Ewing, though, is big and they have a handful of really nice, recruitable players. Setter Miranda Summers, a 5’8 senior, is going to make someone a good late recruit. Ashley Koenig is undersized at 5’8 as an outside, but boy can she drop the hammer and her passing is very good. Tiana Thramerhas a very slight build for 6’0, but gets great extension over the net on her block and, in my opinion, might look better on the right side at the next level.

Two players that caught my eye for Ewing for the first time today were 5’10 junior lefty Sidney Stallbaumand 5’9 sophomore outside Brenna Wagner. Stallbaum was playing in the middle, and it’s easy to tell why. She has a really nice block and is as active at the net as anyone I’ve seen. She’ll be a fantastic right side at the next level for someone. Wagner, meanwhile, has the makings of a really nice full-rotation outside. She’s very athletic and was passing extremely well in the matches I saw her play.

The highest-place D-1 team in the division was Diller-Odell, which finished third at 12-6. D-1 looks like, at this point, a very loaded class. The Griffins are going to be a tough out with sophomore setter Addison Heidemann, who is the real deal, and attackers like senior Kirsten Buresand junior Kenzie Vitosh.

Three-time defending Class D-1 champion Johnson-Brock finished fourth at 9-9, but before you go throwing dirt on the Eagles’ four-peat chances, that record was produced without all-stater Fallon Stutheitparticipating. Stutheit has had some swelling in her knee that needed rest and that also gave the Eagles a chance to play a lot of kids. One to keep an eye on is 5’10 freshman outside Jadyn Hahn.

Some other thoughts about the D1/D2 division were that Central Valley has a chance to be pretty good. It seemed like it was fighting itself at times and couldn’t stay consistent, but it has the athletes and talent to be a challenger in D-1. I especially liked 5’9 senior setter/RSColby Grossart. She would be a great get at this point for an NAIA or Two-Year College program.

Mead kind of got the short end of the stick the last two days. It barely missed making the championship pool by placing sixth in Pool B. The five teams that finished ahead of the Raiders took home the top five places in the championship pool and Mead went on to go 13-1 in the Silver pool to win it going away. Tough draw for Mead. Keep an eye on 6’0 freshman middle Brianna Lemke, she’s raw but legit.

Below is a list of how the teams in the D1/D2 division fared in the Gold and Silver pools.

Gold Pool

BDS 16-2

Ewing 14-4

Diller-Odell 12-6

Johnson-Brock 9-9

Central Valley 8-10

North Platte St. Pat’s 8-10

Lawrence-Nelson 7-11

CWC 6-12

Falls City Sacred Heart 5-13

Kearney Catholic JV 5-13