Early August Top 5 Rankings in Class B

<p>First official practices of the 2019 high school volleyball season begin a week from yesterday and the first contests are now less than four weeks away. What, exactly, happened to summer?</p> <p>It feels like I spent my entire summer driving the back roads of the state hitting as many team and individual camps as I could this summer, probably because that’s what I did. With that knowledge in hand, I give you a look at what I consider – right now – to the the top five teams in each class.</p> <p>I will post the full top 10 in each class the weekend before the start of competition, but for now here is a look at the teams I would rank in the top 5 in Class B right now.</p> <p>This version of the top five is exactly the same as it was in the early June top five rankings, but at the same time it is so, so very different..</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#1 - Skutt Catholic</strong></span></p> <p>In the early June rankings I basically laid it out that nobody would come close to Skutt Catholic this year and that you could just assume the SkyHawks would be the top-ranked team in Class B for the foreseeable future. And, yet, here I am two months later and I'm not even 100% sure Skutt will be #1 in the first official rankings of the 2019 season in a few weeks, While participating for Team USA through early September, Lindsay Krause will be gone for approximately 20-25% of the Skutt matches this season. That's a tough loss. And, exactly how smooth of a transition will it be when she joins the team? Still, though, Skutt should have enough talent to still be the top team to beat with the return of players like Arizona State setter recruit Allison Gray, Omaha recruit Shayla McCormick on the outside, Creighton recruit Megan Skovsende as either an attacker or libero - where she finished last year. Abi Schomers, Ava Heyne, Cameron Cartwright, Olivia Rouw, Lauren Diederich and Breanna Skala. </p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#2 - Waverly</strong></span></p> <p>The early absence of Krause for Skutt helps Waverly close the gap a little bit on the SkyHawks, but Waverly is legitimately breathing down Skutt's neck now because the Vikings have added 6'3 transfer Abby Plouzek from Dorchester to their already loaded roster. Plouzek joins 6'2 South Dakota recruit Atley Carey in the middle for Waverly for a very formidable - and tall - combination. Annika Evans, a future Husker walk-on, is back at setter and has a big-time weapon on the outside in Whitney Lauenstein as well as returning starter Kelsey Perotto. Molly Grosshans returns on the right side and Karsen Vanscoy will likely slide over from defensive specialist to libero. Class B is not very deep at all this season, but these top four or five teams are really going to battle it out all season. </p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#3 - Omaha Duchesne</strong></span></p> <p>Omaha Duchesne did very well this summer and impressed at the Wisconsin Team Camp. If the Cardinals can find a way to fill the void left by the graduated setter/RS Emma Worthington, Duchesne will be right in the thick of things in the Class B title hunt. Mayah Delgado, Mary Pat Taylor, Allison Brown and Caroline Ortman all return as top attackers for the Cardinals while Sofia Bressani, who burst on the scene a year ago as one of the top liberos in the state, also is back for Duchesne. Replacing Worthington at setter will probably be either Kaitlin Neely or Kiersten Capelle – or possibly both.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#4 - Norris</strong></span></p> <p>There is a lot of young talent to like coming back for the Titans, which will mostly need to replace Northern Colorado setter recruit Michaela Boon. Norris went 24-12 a year ago and lost to Omaha Duchesne in the state quarterfinals, so the young core of players got of lot of experience to build on. Paige Wilkinson, Kalli Kroeker, Ella Waters and Brianna Stai all return and all had at least 100 kills a year ago. Molly Ramsey – who had 471 digs a year ago and is right with the best liberos in the state – is back and setter Maisie Boesiger returns after running a two-setter system with Boon a year ago as a freshman. After a really strong showing at the Kearney Top 10 Camp, there is a lot of potential with this Titan group.</p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>#5 - Sidney</strong></span></p> <p>Sidney was one of the biggest surprises at the Kearney Top 10, in my opinion, and finished high in the Gold division. Sidney went 26-9 a year ago and the only thing that kept the Red Raiders out of the state tournament was a five-set loss (15-13 in 5th set) to Grand Island Northwest in the round of 16. I will continue to beat the drum on Mattie Johnson as one of the top players in the state. The South Dakota recruit had 351 kills and 274 digs a year ago. Sidney does lose Payton Jung, but now it’s time for Johnson to put the team on her shoulders and she has a talented supporting cast back with Sarah Wamsley, Logan Holly and Karly Sylvester.</p>