Round 1 - Cross County Cougars Return 5 Seniors

2019 Cross County, Photo contributed by coach. TEAM: CROSS COUNTY COUGARS CLASS: C2 LOCATION: East Central Nebraska in Polk County NSAA TEAM ENROLLMENT (female, grades 9-11): 42 CONFERENCE: Crossroads COACH: Autumn Capler Onto our 4th Regional, the first round of the Sweet Regional in the 2020 Nebraska Prep Dig Team Series is a matchup between C2 Cross County Cougars and D1 Fullerton Warriors. To hear more about your favorite team, hop over to our Twitter feed @nebhsvolleyball to vote them to the second round until 9:00 p.m. on Monday, May 25! UPDATED <a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2020/05/Nebraska-Prep-Dig-Team-Series-Bracket-6.pdf">Nebraska Prep Dig Team Series Bracket</a> Class C2 Cross County under third-year head coach Autumn Capler is on a run!! With a record of 18-14 in 2018 and 23-9 in 2019, the Cougars look to better that in 2020. Coach Autumn Capler on the 2019 season, “We had a very successful season even though we didn’t make it to the state tournament. We had the best start in Cross County history winning our first 13 games. We won our season conference title by beating all CRC (Crossroads Conference) teams in regular-season play. We had a tough subdistrict, but played very well - just came up short.” The Cougars graduated three but among five returning seniors, hitters 6’0 Cortlyn Schaefer and 6’2 [player_tooltip player_id="78628" first="Erica" last="Stratman"] pose a big threat for opponents. And it sounds like the underclassmen are ready to step in to fill some voids! Coach Capler on her upcoming season, “We lost three starting seniors including our setter and our bro. Those positions are going to prove challenging to fill, but I’m incredibly excited about our underclassmen this year. Their potential is out of this world and hopefully we get to work with them this summer to start getting their mental game ready for the varsity level. I have a great group of seniors ready to come in and lead our young players. This group is very determined and after a successful season last year, I know they are going to come out ready to achieve goals we were just shy of last year! Coach Capler believes this could finally be their year to make it to the state tourney, “The last appearance at state was 2013 but CC teams since then have had the potential. I believe this year could be our year because over the course of our 2019 season, I finally feel like the girls saw their potential. They found some success and found out how good they really were. Even though we will be young, I have high, high hopes and expectations this year and I know the team does as well. I know they have the desire and work ethic to achieve those goals and I am so excited to help them get there!” Returning players ⇒Cortlyn Schaefer | 2021 | 5’11 OH | UNCOMMITTED AND INTERESTED <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/6157080/Cortlyn-Schaefer/videos">HUDL Highlights </a>Club: Nebraska Juniors 2019 Awards: All-Conference 1st Team York News Times All-Area LJS All-State Honorable Mention OWH All-State Honorable Mention Grand Island Independent Honorable Mention 2019 Stats: Kills/Set, Total, Hitting Percentage: 4.0, 293, .307 Serving Percentage: 92.9 Digs/Set, Total: 3.8, 277 Receptions/Set, Total: 3.6, 260 Cortlyn on her volleyball career, “I have grown up playing lots of volleyball but naturally coming in as a freshman I was still nervous but grew tremendously as a player. I have always been the player that coaches are able to put in different positions and I am always open to getting better. My preference is outside and has always been but playing different spots is always fun.” ⇒[player_tooltip player_id="78628" first="Erica" last="Stratman"] | 2021 | 6’2 MB Club: South Central 2019 Awards: All-Conference 1st Team York News Times All-Area LJS All-State Honorable Mention OWH All-State Honorable Mention Grand Island Independent Honorable Mention 2019 Stats: Kills/Set, Total, Hitting Percentage: 3.2, 262, .275 Blocks Total: 80 Erica’s team slogan, “Aiming higher, going farther: I think this represents our team because we give ourselves such high expectations and demand a lot out of each other that that I think we can surpass any goal we give ourselves and take this program to a higher level.” ⇒[player_tooltip player_id="78675" first="Chloe" last="Sandell"] | 2022 | 6’0 MB 2019 Awards: YNT All-Area Honorable Mention Grand Island Independent Honorable Mention 2019 Stats: Kills/Set, Total, Hitting Percentage: 1.7, 130, .207 Blocks Total: 47 ⇒Talia Nienhueser | 2021 | 5’9 RS Club: South Central 2019 Stats: Serving Percentage: 96.7 Receptions/Set, Total: 3.0, 216 Talia’s idea for a team slogan, “Dig Deep, and Finish Strong- I feel like this will be a good motto because throughout the years I feel that at some point in our season we always hit a slump and I’m hopeful that this year we can go without it.” ⇒Mackenzie Nuttelman | 2021 | 5’1 DS Mackenzie on finding confidence in her volleyball career, “During my freshman year I struggled a little bit with self-confidence and just playing the game in general. Through my sophomore year the confidence was still a little bit of a problem. Coming around to my junior year, it was like a whole new person and player was on the court. I started gaining the confidence to play and learn that everyone makes mistakes in any sport. Now I am confident that my senior year will be very good and I’m excited to see what is up to come.” ⇒Jacy Mentink | 2021 | 5’3 DS ⇒Jayden Fellows | 2023 | 5’8 OH, MB Club: South Central Jayden’s fondest volleyball memory, “It was one of our earlier games. And we played BDS who were state champs the year before. There was amazing play on both sides of the net. And it was a close game in each set. We ended up sweeping them. We were all so excited. Our entire crowd was into it too. And when you have a loud crowd, it gives you so much momentum and not to mention the excitement it gives you. By beating them, it made us look forward to the rest of the season.” Want more information on the Cross County Cougars? Vote for them on Twitter @nebhsvolleyball to push them to round 2!