Prep Dig Nebraska’s 16s “Dream Team” for Club Season
OK, before you read any further please make sure to understand the following: this is not an “all-state” team for the club season nor is it designed to honor the 16 best players during the club season. I want to…
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Continue ReadingOK, before you read any further please make sure to understand the following: this is not an “all-state” team for the club season nor is it designed to honor the 16 best players during the club season. I want to make sure that’s very clear.
Now, here is a breakdown of what the Prep Dig Nebraska 16s Dream Team for club is. It’s a hypothetical look at what I, Berk Brown, would do if I were in charge of putting together a “Dream Team” from Nebraska to compete at the national championships.
It’s well documented how successful Nebraska teams are during the club season at the national level. What is even more amazing, however, is the fact that a state with a population of roughly 1.9 million people can divide its talent up among five-ish clubs that are able to compete at the national level. Now, THAT is amazing. Plus, consider most of those club teams are dominated by Omaha and Lincoln area players, so the clubs are really only drawing from a population base of closer to 1.2-1.3 million.
Now, consider that the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area has roughly 3.2 million people with about three clubs drawing from that pool. The Kansas City metro area has roughly 2.3 million to pull from and Denver has about 2.8 million. That’s just comparing the Midwest area, not even taking into account Chicago, Southern California, Texas, Florida, etc. I think you get my drift.
So, what if Nebraska consolidated all of its talent into a top team to compete at nationals – hypothetically, of course. What if Nebraska were on an equal footing with all the other national powers when it came to the size of the talent pool it had to draw from. Well, I’m biased, but such an entity would bring home A LOT of hardware – and I’m talking at the Open level here.
It’s with that thought that I give to you what I think a “Dream Team” from Nebraska would look like. Of course, since this is all hypothetical anyway, I’m going to do things a little differently. So, if I were in charge of this hypothetical club, I would have different hypothetical ways of doing things.
First, I’m taking 16 kids on each team. Traditionally teams from Nebraska have 10 players – sometimes more, but USAV restricts your roster. But, here is what drives me crazy about roster restrictions. Teams are picked before Thanksgiving and that’s your team until the 4th of July. That’s crazy to me. You’re telling me that after six or seven full months that the top 10 kids you picked back in November are still your 10 best players? What about injuries? What about kids you develop quickly or simply have the light go on and really flourish? Anyways, I’m taking 16 kids because I want kids to not get burned out. I want kids to play multiple sports in high school, which will cancel out a lot of availability for tournaments, etc.
Second, each one of the 16 kids will have a defined role on the team. Nobody sits the bench in consecutive matches. My goal isn’t to win all season long, my singular goal is to make kids better each and every day all the way through the season. I’m not going to care about winning tournaments except at nationals. I’m going to showcase all my kids for college coaches. Every single person on the team has a job and it will be vital to the team.
Finally, when it comes time to turn in a roster for nationals, I’m entering two teams of eight. I’ve spent the previous six or seven months finding out who works best with who, getting everyone quality touches in big matches and I’m likely taking the eight hottest players at the moment on my A team and the remainder on my B team, but both would play Open at nationals and I would expect both would be capable of winning it.
So, without further ado, if I could have put together an 16s “Dream Team” for nationals this year, it would have looked like this.
I’m going to have three big-time outside hitters. For the 18s and 17s teams I had four that I classified as outside hitters, but as I will get to shortly, this 16s teams will have other very skilled attackers on it that can be both defensive specialists and outsides. So, the three I’m going with are pretty much no-brainers. Give me Marriah Buss of Lincoln Lutheran, Mattie Johnson from Sidney and Lydia Yost from Gretna. At the 16s Open level, I’m fully confident those three will be a force.
Seriously, I get excited just thinking about the potential of a 16s team like this. It legit could dominate at the national level.
In the middle I will take the athletic freak (I mean that as the highest of compliments) Kalynn Meyer of Superior, Lincoln East’s Atley Carey and Millard South’s Paige Fixemer. Let’s see…..6’3, 6’2 and a still-growing 6’1 in the middle and each is physical. That’s a sick group of middles.
OMG, then think about having this trio to play on the right side with Millard North’s McKenna Ruch, Omaha Duchesne’s Mayah Delgado and then just to make us even more unstoppable, give me Lauren Taubenheim of Lincoln Pius X as well.
I think I should also have a team psychologist as well to offer to opposing outsides trying to do their job against that collection of talent at the net.
Give me Brooklyn Schram of Papillion-LaVista to run the 5-1 with that group and I will also take Battle Creek’s Tria McLean as a setter than brings an elite level of athleticism to the mix. As Liberos I want Omaha Marian’s Lucy O’Brien and Gretna’s Kennedy Schaecher.
Now comes the fun part. I’ve got three roster spots left to fill on this squad, so I’m going to get greedy and take three of the best all-around players in the state as uber utility players. Start with Millard North’s Eve Fountain who can float between back row standout or outside hitter. Then I want Minden’s Jensen Rowse, who can attack as well as anyone under 5’10 in the state, can play defense like crazy and is good enough to set when needed. And I also have to have Papillion-LaVista’s Chloe Paschal who is good enough to play libero and also a skilled enough attacker to use at the net.
So, here’s your fictional “Dream Team” for 16s
Marriah Buss, 6’1, OH, Lincoln Lutheran (Nebraska ONE) – committed to Wichita State
Mattie Johnson, 6’0, OH, Sidney (Northeastern VBC of Colorado) – committed to South Dakota
Lydia Lost, 6’0, OH, Gretna (Premier) – uncommitted
Kalynn Meyer, 6’3, MH, Superior (VCNebraska) – committed to Nebraska
Atley Carey, 6’2, MH, Lincoln East (Nebraska Elite) – committed to South Dakota
Paige Fixer, 6’1, MH, Millard South (Premier) – uncommitted
McKenna Ruch, 6’2, RS/OH, Millard North (Premier) – committed to Omaha
Mayah Delgado, 6’0, RS, Omaha Duchesne (Nebraska Elite) – uncommitted
Lauren Taubenheim, 6’2, RS/OH, Lincoln Pius X (Nebraska ONE) – uncommitted
Brooklyn Schram, 5’11, Setter, Papillion-LaVista (Premier) – committed to South Dakota
Tria McLean, 5’9, Setter, Battle Creek (Nebraska Elite) – uncommitted
Lucy O’Brien, 5’5, Libero, Omaha Marian (Nebraska Elite) – uncommitted
Kennedy Schaecher, 5’5, Libero, Gretna (Premier) – uncommitted
Eve Fountain, 5’9, OH/DS, Millard North (Nebraska Elite) – uncommitted
Jensen Rowse, 5’9, OH/DS, Minden (VCNebraska) – uncommitted
Chloe Paschal, 5’9, OH/DS, Papillion-LaVista (Premier) – uncommitted