5 Things to Watch in D1-D2 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 D1-D2 division.</p> <p>Pool A</p> <p>Anselmo-Merna<br /> Archbishop Bergan<br /> BDS<br /> North Platte St. Patrick's<br /> Cambridge<br /> CWC<br /> Howells-Dodge<br /> Mullen<br /> Nebraska Christian</p> <p>Pool B</p> <p>Exeter-Milligan<br /> Central Valley<br /> Cody-Kilgore<br /> Heartland<br /> Johnson-Brock<br /> Kenesaw<br /> Meridian<br /> Overton<br /> South Platte</p> <p>Here is a look at my five things to watch in the Class D1-D2 division of the Top 10 Camp.</p> <p>1.) What does the post-Fallon Stutheit era look like for Johnson-Brock? After leading her team to three-straight state championships and a third-place finish last year, Stutheit will go down as one of the great small-school players in Nebraska history. What does the future look like for the Eagles now that Stutheit has moved on? We're about to find out, but the return of Jayden Hahn and Hailey Sandfort will help lessen the blow.</p> <p>2.) Defending Class D1 state champs Archbishop Bergan only graduated three players from last year, but they were all-staters Lexie Langley, Haley Kempf and Ali Dieckmann, so who is going to step-up and fill those shoes? Allie DeGroff and Lauren Baker are the two most likely candidates, but in a loaded D1 class this year, it's going to take more than that to get back to championship Saturday this fall.</p> <p>3.) For the first time in what feels like a decade or so, Nebraska Christian will not have an Ostrand on its player roster. The Eagles have been one of the most consistently successful programs over the last few years and went 26-5 a year ago, losing to Pleasanton in the state quarterfinals. The team doesn't return a whole lot of experience from last year, but Grace Langemeier will be one of the top players in all of D2 this season and is talented enough to carry them a long way.</p> <p>4.) Trivia question: What non Class A or B school has the longest active streak for state tournament appearances? It's Exeter-Milligan, which has made the trip to state five years in a row, winning it all in 2015 and 2017. Getting to state a sixth-straight year will be difficult considering graduated players Kate Jansky and Katherine White accounted for 766 of the team's 910 kills in 2018 (84.2%), so all eyes will be on seeing who - if anyone - is ready and capable of filling those shoes.</p> <p>5.) BDS sure feels like the favorite to repeat on Class D2 champions this year despite the graduation of D2 Player of the Year Jayden Kleinschmidt. Regan Alfs and Macy Kamler both return along with Jordan Bolte. The Eagles won the D1-D2 division title last year in Kearney and then went on to win the D2 title in the fall. Can the Eagles pull the double-title thing again in 2019? </p>