Players to Watch and a Familiar Face Along the Sidelines in Tough EMC Conference

The Eastern Midlands Conference has always been a tough conference for volleyball in Nebraska. With Gretna and Elkhorn South exiting to the Metro Conference last year, a familiar face is coming back to the conference with the hiring of Jenny Gragert to coach the new Elkhorn North Wolves. Gragert played volleyball at Elkhorn and then UNK before an injury ended her playing career. She was an assistant at Yutan before taking over as the head coach. She was with the Lady Chieftains for four years. She then became the Elkhorn Antlers head coach in 2002. During Gragert’s tenure as head coach at EHS, they went to state nine years, were two time Class B state champions, one time Class B 3rd place finishers and one time 3rd place finishers in Class A. Since stepping down as head coach in 2014 she has been coaching club and junior high volleyball in Elkhorn. When I visited with Gragert about her return to coaching she said, "The main reason I stepped down from coaching in the first place was to spend more time with my family. My kids were elementary and middle school age and their youth sports and busy schedules were tough to manage. I felt like I was missing out on so much. There are a few factors that led me to wanting to coach again...my kids are at the age where, although they are busy, they are driving and doing mostly school sports which seems to be more manageable. Most importantly I realized that my love and passion for coaching young ladies was still very strong. Those reasons, along with having a supportive family and having the desire to start a program from scratch made it seem like a no brainer!" When Class B Elkhorn North opens this fall it will have freshmen, sophomores and juniors the first year. The talent of their young program isn’t a huge concern. They will continue to develop and be strong. They will not have a lot of varsity experience which some might consider a weakness, however, this group of players have competed in high levels through their club seasons, Gragert commented. Here are some top key returning players to keep an eye on this summer and into fall for some top teams in the EMC Conference and the new Elkhorn North Wolves. Elkhorn North: Obviously with a new roster of 9-11th graders they will be young, but Gracie Heaney a 6"1" sophomore RS/S to be had 191 kills, 144 digs, and 37 ace serves last fall as a starter for Elkhorn High. The Wolves will be young, but with Gragert at the helm they will be well coached. Elkhorn: Addie Thomas is a senior to be OH/RS hitter who had 226 kills and 83 digs for the Antlers last fall. [player_tooltip player_id="58800" first="Taylor" last="Bunjer"] is a 5’10" junior to be RS/DS who had 140 kills last fall. [player_tooltip player_id="82596" first="Abby" last="Wolfe"] is 5’9" senior to be RS/OH who had 218 kills and 25 service aces for the Antlers. Norris: The Titans are loaded with returning talent this fall. Seniors to be Molly Ramsey a K-State commit for Volleyball had 416 digs for the Titans, Briana Stai a 6’0" MB/RS had 137 kills, and uncommitted Kalli Kroeker a 5’11" middle who registered 251 kills. Juniors to be will be the tandem pair of talented setter [player_tooltip player_id="37546" first="Maisie" last="Boesiger"] who had 50 ace serves, 226 digs and 999 set assists and 6’2" OH who had 380 kills last season. Some young faces that had good varsity experience too, include junior to be 5’11" Sidney Jelinek who had 168 kills and 5’10" sophomore to be [player_tooltip player_id="59203" first="Gracie" last="Kircher"] who registered 77 kills for the Titans. Bennington: The Badgers were young last year and look to improve on their record from a year ago. 5’10" Riley Hartman had 124 kills, 119 digs and 23 ace serves in her junior campaign and 5’10" sophomore Emma John registered 109 kills this past fall for the Badgers. Waverly: The Vikings were hit hard by graduation, but have their big 6’1" hitter [player_tooltip player_id="58186" first="Whitney" last="Lauenstein"], a Nebraska commit back who registered 454 kills, 313 digs and 48 ace serves last fall for the Vikings returning. Senior to be OH 6’0" Bailey Jeffers had 191 kills last season.