Kansas 2A State Preview

<p>We are ready to dive into Kansas Class 2A State Previews. We were able to take a look at substate action and stats and it appears to be a tournament up for grabs. Reigning 2A state champion Heritage Christian moves up to 3A, which means it is anyone’s for the taking. Here are our participants in Dodge City. </p> <p>Is top seed <strong>Smith Center</strong> ready to make the jump to champion? They will enter with an impressive 38-2 after a runner-up finish last fall. Many faces returned this year and hope to put a cap on a pretty dominant year. One of those returnees is kills leader Tallon Rentschler. She has 422 and will leave as the school’s all-time leader. She has had a great connection with setter Camryn Hutchinson this year. The sophomore has 619 assists. Another senior, Ashlyn Long has been key with 330 kills as well. </p> <p><strong>Ellinwood and their 34-4 will be the second seed</strong>. Their schedule has prepared them for a championship running knocking off state participants along the way. The Eagles have three different win streaks of at least eight matches on the year, including 13 heading into this tournament. Four players boast more than 100 kills led by junior Gabriele Jacobs and her 251. Junior Bella Baker follows with 194. Baker also has 60 aces, second to senior Mary Dimitt’s 72. They will attempt to keep their opponents out of system with aggressive serving. </p> <p><strong>Third seed Jefferson County North at 33-7</strong> has a young but strong team in 2021. They owned a 15 game win streak during the middle of the season. They don’t utilize Maxpreps to update their stats so we don’t have leaders. </p> <p><strong>Hillsboro at 32-8 will be the fourth seed</strong> this weekend. They have been a consistent team this fall. They would go on win streaks of 5 to 6 games, lose, then start another streak. Like Jefferson County, they have a young roster with [player_tooltip player_id="105662" first="Sammie" last="Saunders"] as their leader. The senior has 377 kills. Two sophomores have emerged as viable scoring threats in [player_tooltip player_id="119710" first="Zaylee" last="Werth"] (297) and Savannah Shahan (218).  Navigating the backcourt has been junior Kori Arnold and her 433 digs. Setter Ella Suderman has been money, dishing out 794 assists. </p> <p><strong>Wabaunsee will be the fifth seed</strong> and enters with a 32-8 record. The Chargers started the year on a twelve-match winning streak and will be in their fourth straight year state tournament. [player_tooltip player_id="105632" first="Lauren" last="Schutter"], who we were able to see on the club circuit for KC Power is a player to watch. She is closing in on 500 kills on the year and hitting at a blistering .406 clip. Senior Kaelyn Conrad is another defensive dandy we’ll see this weekend, tallying 361 digs. </p> <p><strong>Sixth seed Garden Plain (30-9)</strong> is a team that may surprise some folks this weekend. They are one of the small teams located in the perfect location in which they can face off against larger programs.  They have losses to Andale, Augusta, and McPherson who are high-quality opponents.  They also took out Bishop Carroll who will be in the state tournament. Senior [player_tooltip player_id="123123" first="Brooke" last="Hammond"] leads the offense with 298 kills. They will also count on senior Sophia Smith and her 183 kills to contribute. Junior Sydney Puetz keeps things in order defensively with 429 digs. Senior Naomi Dooley and junior Ryleigh Stuhlsatz have been solid in the 6-2 for this team. </p> <p><strong>Maranatha Academy and their 27-12 record will be the seventh seed.</strong> They had an up and down year but got hot when it mattered, closing the year on a six-match winning streak. They graduated Addi Pelham, who is having a good freshman year at Lipscomb University.  Senior Madison Piva has stepped up and filled her shoes with 253 kills. Sienna Alexander runs the show and has dished out 695 assists. </p> <p><strong>The final team and eighth seed will be St. Mary’s Colgan (26-14).</strong> They are winners of 13 in a row to close the year. They have the most losses in the field but are more than capable of making some noise.  Look for pin Emily Imhof to be a part of the scoring, as she comes in with 275 kills. Lauren Torrance has been solid in the middle herself with 268 kills and 72 blocks. , </p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong>Predictions</strong></span></p> <p>Pool 1: Smith Center, Hillsboro, Wabaunsee, St. Mary’s Colgan</p> <p>Pool 2: Ellinwood, Jefferson County North, Garden Plain, Maranatha</p> <p>Advancing: Smth Center, Wabaunsee</p> <p>Advancing: Ellinwood, Jefferson County North</p> <p>Smith Center over Jefferson County North</p> <p>Ellinwood over Wabaunsee</p> <p>Our prediction: Smith Center is your 2021 state champions</p>