<p>Our postseason stat stuffer roundup continues today with middle blockers! Here are some of Nebraska’s middles who ended the 2021 season with impressive statistical output.</p>
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<p><strong>Lethal Efficiency<br />
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<p>Of course, middle blockers get fed a lot of in-system attacks. Even so, a lot of Nebraska’s middles finished 2021 with some eye-popping hitting efficiencies.</p>
<p>Believe it or not, the top of the hitting percentage board has been occupied by two sophomores for most of the year. [player_tooltip player_id="105006" first="JoLee" last="Ryan"] and [player_tooltip player_id="104975" first="Nora" last="Wurtz"] were constant scoring threats throughout the season, and it yielded a season attacking efficiency above .400 for both of them. Not only are these two dominant on the volleyball court, but they help demonstrate a growing trend of great small-town middles in the Cornhusker State.</p>
[caption id="attachment_165835" align="alignright" width="451"]<img class="wp-image-165835" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2021/11/IMG_4382-crop-3676x2414-1637167053-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="451" height="296" /> Hanel (4) puts up the block for Clarkson/Leigh.[/caption]
<p>Let’s expand on this trend with a few more names. [player_tooltip player_id="58784" first="Brenna" last="Schmidt"] dazzled the Lincoln crowd with a few huge performances for Elmwood-Murdock in the Class D1 tournament. She has a unique ability to terminate on high sets and can attack out on the pin, too. Meanwhile, the star of Class D2 was Sacred Heart’s [player_tooltip player_id="58774" first="Erison" last="Vonderschmidt"], who finished the year in the top five statewide in hitting percentage. In Class C2, [player_tooltip player_id="122806" first="Chloe" last="Hanel"] had a huge year for Clarkson/Leigh and helped the Patriots to another postseason appearance.</p>
<p>That’s a lot of great talent coming from the state’s smaller schools, but the big cities were not lacking in efficient middles, either. [player_tooltip player_id="119635" first="Grace" last="Kremer"] took a big step forward for Omaha Skutt and hit nearly .400 in her final year with the program. [player_tooltip player_id="58798" first="Sadie" last="Millard"] was similarly effective for Millard West, and [player_tooltip player_id="112002" first="Brooklyn" last="Fuchs"] hit north of .300 in her senior campaign with Lincoln East.</p>
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<p><strong>Raising the Roof</strong></p>
<p>Now that we’ve some of the big producers on the offensive end, it’s only fair that we give a shoutout to some of the state’s shutdown blockers.</p>
<p>Again, there’s a lot of variety on the leaderboard. [player_tooltip player_id="109071" first="Kensington" last="Tekrony"] and [player_tooltip player_id="143576" first="Mia" last="Mroczek"] finished as the two top blockers in Class A, and that was undoubtedly a key factor in both of their teams ascending to the state semifinals. [player_tooltip player_id="58777" first="Regan" last="Haith"] of Lincoln Pius X was another middle blocker who locked down the net in this division.</p>
<p>Small-town representation is strong here, too. <strong>Lexi Schroder</strong> was the do-everything middle blocker who helped lift her Stuart team to a postseason run. <strong>Lexi Eickhoff</strong> also had a standout sophomore campaign for Hartington Cedar Catholic. Other ball-stuffing middle blockers who ended the year at state include <strong>Cameran Jansky</strong>, <strong>Allison Wieseler</strong>, and <strong>Jozy Piper</strong>.</p>
