2021 Season Retrospective: The Six Champions

It’s finally time to step back and look at the entire 2021 Nebraska high school volleyball season. We now have the benefit of knowing how it all ended, and we can begin to paint the broad strokes of everything that happened in this action-packed year. There’s a lot to talk about. Fittingly, this recap series will start with an ode to the champions. These six teams had some different paths to reach glory, and we’re going to highlight those here. Of course, it’s also worth giving credit to the players who helped make it all happen. Here’s a retrospective on Nebraska’s best in 2021.   Falls City Sacred Heart Sacred Heart demonstrated its firm standing as the top team in Class D2 throughout the year, and that success culminated in a state championship last Saturday. The team’s two lone losses of the season both came in tournament action against Class D1 tournament team Diller-Odell. Other than that, the Irish made a habit of sweeping nearly every opponent they met. That trend carried into the quarterfinals and semifinals, as Sacred Heart looked dominant as they locked themselves into the championship. That title match, though, showed that the Irish could perform well in the face of adversity. Down 2-1 against Humphrey St. Francis, Sacred Heart leaned on some of the players that got them to the championship and completed the comeback. Erison Vonderschmidt capped off a stellar career with a massive 27-kill performance, [player_tooltip player_id="58809" first="Rachel" last="Magdanz"] was effective as a setter and a hitter, and Olivia Eickhoff made plenty of valuable contributions on offense. It was a perfect storm that lifted this storied program to another memorable season.   [caption id="attachment_165066" align="alignright" width="416"]<img class="wp-image-165066" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2021/11/IMG_5415-crop-2511x1649-1636579529-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="416" height="273" /> [player_tooltip player_id="59193" first="Grace" last="Baumert"] takes a swing in the Class D1 championship match.[/caption] Howells-Dodge In Class D1, it was another favorite that walked away with the championship. The Jaguars put everyone on notice with a stout regular-season showing. Their only losses were to top-tier Class C2 foes Clarkson/Leigh, Wisner-Pilger, and Oakland-Craig. This team was ready for the big stage. It would not be an easy stroll through the tournament, however. Howells-Dodge faced perhaps the biggest possible challenge in the semifinals, as the D1 #1 found themselves down 0-2 to a skilled Nebraska Christian team. The challengers from Central City had two match points in the third set before the Jaguars stormed back with a 4-0 run that turned out to be a championship-saving surge. Howells-Dodge completed a semifinal reverse sweep and then won a back-and-forth battle with Archbishop Bergan to win the D1 title. I have to marvel at the identical 23-kill totals by [player_tooltip player_id="58770" first="Ellie" last="Baumert"] and [player_tooltip player_id="59193" first="Grace" last="Baumert"] in the title match. Ellie also put together one of the craziest triple-doubles ever, with 21 assists and 18 digs added to her credit. Natalie Pieper made some great six-rotation plays, and Blair Fiala helped anchor the team as another setter-hitter option. This was quite a breakthrough for Howells-Dodge.   Oakland-Craig There was a lot of enthusiasm surrounding this Oakland-Craig team at the state championships. This enthusiasm was well-placed. The Class C2 regular season was generally a big, competitive round-robin in which each of the frontrunners experienced some highs and lows. Every team entered the tournament with a handful of losses, and not even top-seeded Oakland-Craig was spared from the parity. Even still, the Knights put their strength on full display in Lincoln. They kicked things off with a sweep over Hastings St. Cecilia and followed it up with a four-set win over a tough Superior squad. Oakland-Craig certainly wouldn’t yield from there and defeated Sutton in straight sets to claim the title. [player_tooltip player_id="58776" first="Bailey" last="Helzer"] went out on top, and she did it with a monster 22-kill night. Perhaps younger sister Brandi is next in line to take over the offense, as she added ten kills and looked dominant -- and is just a freshman! Another 2025 to keep an eye on is setter Adi Rennerfeldt. She showed incredible poise last week and distributed the ball masterfully throughout the year. Behind her leadership, this Knights team is not going away anytime soon.   Lincoln Lutheran I had said before that it would be tough to separate the top three teams in Class C1. We saw exactly that once it was tournament time. Lincoln Lutheran joined the triad of C1 teams that held seldom lost in the regular season. That yielded a #3 seed for the Warriors after they had a season that could’ve been worthy of the top seed in most years. That turned out to be a moot point, though, as Lincoln Lutheran played like a #1 team during the tournament anyway. They swept Bishop Neumann in the quarterfinals and did the same to perennial contender Grand Island Central Catholic in the following round. The Warriors’ firepower took over in the C1 championship. [player_tooltip player_id="59212" first="Abby" last="Wachal"] had a sensational 32-kill performance that reminds us of a few other Lincoln Lutheran terminators before her. Katelynn Oxley was fabulous in the middle. [player_tooltip player_id="155029" first="Keri" last="Leimbach"] and [player_tooltip player_id="82463" first="Raegan" last="Holle"] held things down in the backcourt and allowed the offense to run smoothly. I anticipate we’ll be seeing much more from this group in the coming years.   Omaha Skutt Catholic Seven in a row. That was the goal. Despite the new-look roster for Omaha Skutt this fall, the SkyHawks did not shy away from challenging themselves in the regular season. It’s an ever-present philosophy within this program. The tough schedule played out, and Skutt landed at the #2 spot in Class B. If the streak was going to stay alive, they’d have to win the title without being the clear-cut favorite in the bracket. A sweep over Duchesne in the quarterfinal round was a good start. Then, the big test hit quickly. The six-time defending champion found themselves down 0-2 against Waverly in the semifinals. With an immense amount of pressure building, Skutt fought back. You’d expect nothing less from a championship-caliber program. The whole team stepped up, focused, and rallied to a magical five-set win. All the forward momentum that Skutt had generated in the semifinal comeback was unleashed in the championship match. [player_tooltip player_id="59194" first="Morgan" last="Burke"] and [player_tooltip player_id="37531" first="Abby" last="Schomers"] had two of the best championship performances I’ve seen in a long time. [player_tooltip player_id="37532" first="Ava" last="Heyne"], [player_tooltip player_id="104586" first="Ivy" last="Leuck"], and [player_tooltip player_id="119635" first="Grace" last="Kremer"] were clicking, too. The SkyHawks locked up seven straight and are set up to extend the streak even further.   [caption id="attachment_165072" align="alignright" width="385"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2021/11/IMG_5740-crop-5571x3658-1636580000.jpg"><img class="wp-image-165072" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2021/11/IMG_5740-crop-5571x3658-1636580000-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="385" height="253" /></a> Medeck serves in front of the Papillion-La Vista South student section.[/caption] Papillion-La Vista South For Papio South, this tournament wasn’t just about winning a Class A title. It was about sealing perfection. It isn’t uncommon to see more than one undefeated team across the six tournament brackets in a given year, but Papillion-La Vista South was the sole torchbearer in 2021. They carried it well. Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the Titans’ tournament run in Lincoln was how relaxed the team looked throughout. The pressure of upholding their undefeated status did not seem to get to them. They swept past two great teams in Fremont and Elkhorn South to reach the championship. And, again, Papio South looked unflappable in the season finale. They soared to another 3-0 win behind stellar performances from a vast array of veteran leaders. [player_tooltip player_id="59192" first="Stella" last="Adeyemi"] and [player_tooltip player_id="109585" first="Lauren" last="Medeck"] were unstoppable on the left once again. [player_tooltip player_id="37536" first="Emma" last="O’Neill"] had a constant blocking presence at the net, and [player_tooltip player_id="37529" first="Ava" last="LeGrand"] put together one last masterpiece from the setter spot. It was literally a perfect way to end the year.