NCA All-Star Match Predictions, Practice Observations
LINCOLN – It’s always fascinating to watch the NCA All-Star Match and see how the different players respond to it. After stellar high school careers, this is an opportunity for many of the players to compete against each other at…
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Continue ReadingLINCOLN – It’s always fascinating to watch the NCA All-Star Match and see how the different players respond to it. After stellar high school careers, this is an opportunity for many of the players to compete against each other at a high level. It’s in these kind of contests when you find out who the real superstars are and who the real competitors are.
Here are the rosters.
Red Team – coached by Sue Wewel of Archbishop Bergan and Scott Anderson of Freeman.
Taya Beller, Humphrey-Lindsay HF (Wayne State); Bree Burtwistle, Stanton (Midland); Kelsie Cada, Bishop Neumann (Wayne State); Jaiden Centeno, Millard West (Iowa State); Jaden Ferguson, Lincoln Southwest (Northwest Missouri State); Hayley Fox, St. Paul (Sioux Falls); Kayla Haynes, Freeman (Omaha); Whitney Jensen, Grand Island Northwest (Nebraska Wesleyan); Lexie Langley, Archbishop Bergan (Augustana); Mara LeGrand, Papillion-LaVista South (Regis University); Hope Leimbach, Lincoln Lutheran (Midland); Anna McLain, Lincoln Pius X (Queens University); Camryn Opfer, Seward (Concordia); Kyla Swanson, Wahoo (Illinois).
Blue Team – coached by Lindsay Peterson of Millard North and Kristi Allen of Blue Hill.
Kacey Allen, Blue Hill; Michaela Bartels, Bennington (Nebraska-Kearney); Emily Bressman, Omaha Marian (Creighton); Sami Clarkson, Omaha Concordia (Omaha); Emersen Cyza, Alliance (Wyoming); Emma Gabel, Lincoln Pius X (Nebraska); Emmy Grant, Millard North (Northwest Missouri State); Allie Kerns, Millard North (Missouri Western); Jayden Kleinschmidt, BDS; Elly Larson, Wahoo (Wayne State); Kamryn Schuler, Gretna (Nebraska-Kearney); Fallon Stutheit, Johnson-Brock (Nebraska); Maddie Wieseler, Hartington Cedar Catholic (Midland); Megan Woods, Grand Island Central Catholic (Omaha); Emma Worthington, Omaha Duchesne (Cornell).
After getting to take in the afternoon practices for both teams yesterday, here are a few observations about what I saw and predictions on what I think will happen tonight. The first serve from Lincoln North Star is at 6 p.m. and it is televised on NET2. No matter the score, the teams will play a minimum of four sets and if it is tied 2-2, a fifth set to 15 will be played.
- Megan Woods, the super stud and all-state Omaha recruit from Grand Island Central Catholic, is likely to be limited to just back-row play as she is dealing with a hand injury.
- Kayla Haynes is also battling some bumps and cruises and the Omaha recruit from Freeman may see limited action tonight, although she looked pretty good in practice.
- The five hitters most likely to hurt someone on the opposite side of the net or flatten a ball are:
- Taya Beller
- Kelsie Cada
- Emily Bressman
- Emersen Cyza
- Maddie Wieseler
- It was legit scary watching Beller on the slide yesterday. I think people are going to watch her tonight and be blown away. She finished off the practice yesterday connecting with setter Mara LeGrand on a slide that she hit so hard it literally made me flinch and it landed a good two feet inside the 10-foot line. The kid is an athletic freak.
- I’m curious as to what the Blue team will do about a libero tonight. With no Emma Gabel, the team really doesn’t have a true libero. Emily Bressman would be a really good option, but they are going to need Bressman on the outside to have any chance tonight. Jayden Kleinschmidt, the Class D-2 player of the year from BDS, looked really good and she would be an interesting libero choice. Megan Woods might make the most sense and I could even see Kacey Allen or Elly Larson being able to do it.
- I’m not going to lie – I think the Red team has a huge advantage going into tonight. I think the Blue team is really going to struggle to play as high above the net as the Red team can and it’s a really bad combination when a team doesn’t have a great back row presence and struggles blocking.
- Kelsie Cada is going to show everyone tonight why she was – by far – the best full-rotation player in the state this year. She’s going to get her kills, but really watch her play in the back row and from the service line. She can literally beat you from any where.
- Jaiden Centeno is so legit. I say she makes at least three plays tonight that defy all sense of logic and physics.
- The setting tandem of Mara LeGrand and Hope Leimbach is going to be a blast to watch for the Red team. LeGrand’s hands are beyond amazing – watch how well she holds middles and how many times middles either don’t get to a pin or take a step in the wrong direction because she does not tip off where her sets are going at all. Leimbach is a dragon in a 5’5 body and she has the best vertical of anyone playing tonight. I said it privately to many people before teams were selected and I will say it publicly now, whichever team has Leimbach will win the match. That kind of gives away my match prediction, but the point is that Leimbach simply is a winner as has the “it” factor that so few do. You’re going to love watching her play.
- Michaela Bartels, in my opinion, is going to have a good night. The Bennington graduate and Nebraska-Kearney recruit is so athletically gifted and she plays high enough above the net to be effective against the ginormous Red team.
- Maddie Wieseler played in relative obscurity at Hartington Cedar Catholic, but you should know that she was offered a chance to walk on at Nebraska as a back-row player but chose Midland – in part – so she could remain an attacker. She’s a lefty that hits the tar out of the ball and she can really hook a ball around a block. She’s going to surprise people with her play tonight.
- Players that I think will finish the night with eight or more kills:
- Taya Beller
- Camryn Opfer
- Jaden Ferguson
- Kyla Swanson
- Kelsie Cada
- Emily Bressman
- Emersen Cyza
- Kamryn Schuler
- Players that I think are going to have three or more blocks
- Michaela Bartles
- Kyla Swanson
- Anna McLain
- Taya Beller
- Prediction for the match – Red 3, Blue 1. All-Star matches can be brutally tough to predict, but I just think the size, athleticism and ball control are all tilted quit a bit the way of the Red team.