5 Things to Watch in A-B-C1 Division at Top 10 Camp

<p>KEARNEY - The Kearney Top 10 Team Camp gets underway tomorrow morning with the Class C2 division, followed by the Class A-B-C1 division on Tuesday afternoon and Class D1-D2 division on Wednesday afternoon. </p> <p>The camp brings together 18 of the top teams in the state in each division - a total of 54 for the camp as a whole - and there is always a lot to watch and a lot to learn over those days. Each division is broken into two pools. All teams in the same pool play each other, with the top five teams in each pool advancing to a championship pool. It's not easy to explain, but the winning team is the team that finishes with the best record against the other teams in the championship pool over the course of the tournament. </p> <p>Here are the pools for the A-B-C1 division.</p> <p>Pool A</p> <p>Aurora<br /> Bishop Neumann<br /> Columbus Lakeview<br /> Grand Island CC<br /> Millard South<br /> Norris<br /> Platteview<br /> Sidney<br /> Syracuse</p> <p>Pool B</p> <p>Auburn<br /> Broken Bow<br /> Columbus Scotus<br /> Grand Island Northwest<br /> Gothenburg<br /> Kearney Catholic<br /> Norfolk<br /> Omaha Central<br /> Seward</p> <p>Here is a look at my five things to watch in the Class A-B-C1 division of the Top 10 Camp.</p> <p>1.) Can Millard South repeat? The Patriots have won this division two years in a row and three of the last five - with Grand Island Northwest winning the other two. On paper it might look like Millard South is a good bet for a three-peat, but hold your horses there for a minute. Norris is going to be one of the best teams in the state, Grand Island CC is going to play everyone tough and is the favorite to win the Class C2 state title. Syracuse has the athletes and ballers to play with anyone and Sidney is legit as well. If Millard South is going to win again this year, it has to be on its game from the very beginning.</p> <p>2.) Maybe the thing I'm most excited about is the opportunity to watch Sidney and Mattie Johnson. I feel like I've been beating the drum on how good Johnson is for a long time now and the South Dakota recruit is probably even better than I give her credit for. I could probably count on one hand the number of outside hitters that are better in the state. She is currently ranked as the #3 overall prospect in the Class of 2020 and while I don't see anyone overtaking Kalynn Meyer for the top spot, Johnson could easily rise to #2 with a strong showing this week.</p> <p>3.) The only thing that kept the aforementioned Sidney team out of state last year was an incredible rally in the Round of 16 match by Grand Island Northwest which allowed the Vikings to reach state for the 18th consecutive year - which is tied for the third-most in state history. We will get a pretty good idea this week if Northwest is ready to try and push that streak to 19. Northwest always graduates a lot of seniors each year, but they return quite a bit of talent this fall, including 6'0 outside Macey Bosard who did something very rare for a Vikings last season - she played a lot as a freshman.</p> <p>4.) Is Norris going to be a threat to win Class B? The Titans went 24-12 last season and lost to Omaha Duchesne in the state quarterfinals. Norris lost a lot of good talent to graduation, but I can see the Titans making a deep push in Class B this year with the talent they bring back. Kalli Kroeker, Ella Waters and Brianna Stai give the team lots of size at the net and Norris also returns setter Maisie Boesiger and back-row standouts Molly Ramsey and Madalyn Clauss. </p> <p>5.) Who is going to be the "it factor" player for Grand Island CC this year? The Crusaders have been blessed for the last several years to have a player that could go out and get a point whenever it was needed - with Megan Woods and Emma Benton having filled that role in recent seasons. Maybe it will just be a more balanced attack in 2019 for GICC, either way, it will be interesting to see how its attack takes shape.</p>