Wisconsin D2 WAY Too Early Rankings Heading Into The 2020 Season

Let’s be honest, sometimes the quarantine can be a bit wearing from the day to day routine of finding motivation to go to school via your device, no club practices, open gyms, or any of the usual activities we rely on for entertainment. At Prep Dig, we’ll be incorporating more video into our content as we want to give the content a little bit of a spark. I unveiled the D2 Top Ten as of right now via Facebook live and will be looking to add more video components into my writing. Here is a more detailed script of what to expect as of now for the top teams coming out of D2. <ol> <li style="font-weight: 400">Catholic Memorial </li> <li style="font-weight: 400">Kettle Moraine Lutheran</li> <li style="font-weight: 400">Edgewood</li> <li style="font-weight: 400">Luxemburg- Casco </li> <li style="font-weight: 400">McFarland</li> <li style="font-weight: 400">Lakeside Lutheran</li> <li style="font-weight: 400">Lake Country Lutheran </li> <li style="font-weight: 400">Fox Valley Lutheran </li> <li style="font-weight: 400">Wisconsin Lutheran </li> <li style="font-weight: 400">Freedom </li> </ol> Catholic Memorial CMH didn’t have a “typical” CMH year finishing under .500 in their rigorous schedule. With plenty of underclassmen, this team showed flashes of greatness last year where they will be looking to those close losses into big wins in 2020. Marquette recruit [player_tooltip player_id="80715" first="Kaitlyn" last="Riley"] will be their top attacker coming back in the middle, but there are also plenty of other weapons returning in [player_tooltip player_id="61787" first="Emily" last="Clausen"] as well as setters [player_tooltip player_id="82914" first="Elena" last="Dragani"], Emma Kowalczyk, and the addition of [player_tooltip player_id="81267" first="Lily" last="Lutz"]. Bella Halcomb will be the Senior leader holding down the backrow as an experienced libero. Kettle Moraine Lutheran (Title Photo) A lot of new faces and new roles for this KML squad last year who is much like CMH in playing a rigorous schedule of the top tournaments in the state. [player_tooltip player_id="21871" first="Elle" last="Truckenbrod"] has been a back to back All-State outside hitter and will look to lead the team as a Senior. She is one of five attackers who had over 100 kills last season who will be back in the 2020 lineup. They will have to replace their libero [player_tooltip player_id="80167" first="Gianna" last="Feld"] who was key in their state runner-up finish in 2018, but will return their setter in Maddie Fischer. Edgewood This squad has a ton of firepower and are still young with the likes of [player_tooltip player_id="81254" first="Natalie" last="Ring"], Addie Barth, Nicole Schmitt, and Addie Schmotzer. There is not a lack of scoring ability here. What will be interesting to see is if Marquette recruit [player_tooltip player_id="12970" first="Ella" last="Foti"] will be running a 5-1 or a 6-2 where would allow her to still attack from the right side. She can do it all. 2020 Sections have not been released yet, but if they are anything like last year, it will still feature plenty of teams in Southern Wisconsin who will contend for a state tournament berth. [caption id="attachment_88061" align="alignright" width="428"] Groce Holschuh #1 of Luxemburg-Casco[/caption] Luxemburg-Casco Talk about getting hot at the right time. Luxemburg-Casco found their groove right at the end of the season in 2019 and was holding up the gold ball on the final Saturday with a state championship finish. The Spartans had a talented Senior class, but with any program, there are players ready to step in and make their presence known. They return top pin hitters in Hannah Derenne, [player_tooltip player_id="81279" first="Grace" last="Holschuh"], and Kenzie Hanson. Look for some underclassmen to step in and make an immediate impact such as setter [player_tooltip player_id="81273" first="Emma" last="Johnson"] and soon to be Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="82915" first="Autumn" last="Flynn"] in the middle. McFarland McFarland one big match after big match enroute to a state runner-up finish. With a balanced attack and a team full of multisport athletes, the Spartans have a well established program as well where they will fill in the gaps of graduation. Top point scorers are all back in Nina Crull, Avery Pennekamp, and Katie Hildebrandt. They will have to replace to major positions in their setter and libero, where [player_tooltip player_id="57284" first="Maddy" last="Fortune"] will most likely step in to set, replacing her sister Lizzy who had an illustrious career as a setter for McFarland. Their mom, Trish Fortune is the head coach. Lakeside Lutheran McFarland took down Lakeside Lutheran in the sectional final in 2019, but Lakeside Lutheran will still be a major threat with the likes of [player_tooltip player_id="56496" first="Payton" last="Kuepers"] coming back. Kuepers had over 350 kills from the pin last year and will take plenty of the swings in 2020 with the graduation of [player_tooltip player_id="56024" first="Ella" last="Collins"] who was a top outside hitter in D2. Lakeside Lutheran has the tradition, but they will also have an extremely tough region to go through in order to get to Green Bay. Fox Valley Lutheran FVL is always in the mix. The Foxes out of Appleton were 33-3 last year with one of their losses coming to Little Chute in sectional play. Coming into 2020, FVL returns the majority contributors from last year which includes three attackers who had around 200 kills led by Mickenzi Benter. FVL will also have their top libero in Kennedy Schmitz and setter, Holly Malkowski. FVL is in the same conference as Luxemburg-Casco and Freedom. Wisconsin Lutheran [player_tooltip player_id="56013" first="Julia" last="Treichel"] and her ability to score points is going to be extremely missed, but the cupboard is far from bare for Wisco. They will return [player_tooltip player_id="80722" first="Natalie" last="Tesch"] and her lethal left handed swing and her ability to set. [player_tooltip player_id="81321" first="Grace" last="Schneider"] will be a big point scorer who will be heavily relied upon to score out of the front and backrow. Lake Country Lutheran Well coached, disciplined, and a high expectation within the program, Lake Country Lutheran is always going to be one to talk about when it comes to top volleyball programs. They will take a hit due to graduation however they will return outside hitter [player_tooltip player_id="80750" first="Evvie" last="Kaczkowski"] and most likely will have [player_tooltip player_id="81255" first="Adriana" last="Studer"] as libero, one of the tops in the Class of 2022. Freedom This program has come a long ways and will be a contender this year led by Senior outside hitter [player_tooltip player_id="80728" first="Linnea" last="Willer"]. She can do it all for the Irish as a six rotation athlete who can score from anywhere. This team also has a really talented Sophomore class which gained valuable experience being thrown into varsity competition right away in 2019.         https://www.facebook.com/PrepDigWI/videos/565109807449861/