Kansas 4A State Previews and Predictions

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Looking back at substate previews, I had to send my apologies for the classes I missed due to technical difficulties. The Kansas 4A State Volleyball Championships final site is hosted at Hutchinson Sports Arena. The competition will be held on October 28th and 29th. As a reminder on the format, the 8 teams competing will be split up to 2 pools of 4, with the top 2 advancing to the semifinal match on Saturday. Winners move on to play in the Championship match while the losing team will play in a consolation match. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Pool 1</span></strong> (seed) team name [record]<br>(1) Andale [39-0]<br>(4) Paola [26-11]<br>(5) St George-Rock Creek [25-12]<br>(8) SM-Bishop Miege [16-21]</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Andale</strong> returns to Hutchinson as the number one seed and the defending state champion. They returned 9 Seniors, led by [player_tooltip player_id='120012' first='McKenzie' last='Fairchild'] (4.6 kills/set) and [player_tooltip player_id='122210' first='Maddie' last='Schrandt'] (3.4 kills/set). Remember back in early September that they added one lone freshman to the squad? That same freshman, Hayden Grimes, is the Indians newest libero. Grimes led the team in digs (351) and receptions (346). Their only scare this season was against Andover Central (who's in one classification above them), who took the lone set from Andale.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I watched <strong>Paola</strong> played this season and boy they have some high fliers on the team. Track and Field star Maggie Kauk can out-jumped almost anyone and led the team with 3.4 kills/set. Her counterpart is setter Maddie Pitzer, who recorded her 1,000th career assist on a set to Kauk in the final point against Eudora. They added a transfer from Chanute in Brylynn Wicker, adding to their offense with 1.6 kills/set. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Rock Creek</strong> from St George comes in as the third seed in Pool 1. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='219714' first='Ayla' last='Klingenberg'] has been on fire from substate, averaging 5.75 kills/set, an improvement from her 4.2 k/s during the regular season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Bishop Miege</strong> is a big unknown for the pool since Miege plays in a tougher conference and their losing record might confuse people why they are at state. The took care of their substate opponents behind [player_tooltip player_id='173376' first='Lauren' last='Lopez'] and [player_tooltip player_id='152166' first='Ali' last='Olson']'s hot hitting arms.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Predictions</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pool 1: Andale, Bishop Miege, Paola, Rock Creek.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Pool 2</strong> (seed) team name [record]<br>(2) Towanda- Circle [34-4]<br>(3) Clay Center Community [27-10]<br>(6) Tonganoxie [24-14]<br>(7) Louisburg [20-17]</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Circle</strong> have a bad taste in their mouth as they did not advance to the state semifinal match last year with a three-way tie for first and lost to tiebreakers. Circle's top player is [player_tooltip player_id='172454' first='Jacqueline' last='Corcoran'] who leads the team with 401 kills this season. Circle dominated their substate opponents and outscored them 100 - 38.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>t's the Megan Wright's show as <strong>Clay Center Community </strong>'s leading player in (almost) all statistical categories. Mackenzie Weller ain't too shabby either, leading the offense with her 827 assists this season. The Tigers breeze by the competition at their substate and hoping to bring it to Hutchinson.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Tonganoxie </strong>comes in as the third seed on Pool 2. They had a great showing during the season and knocked off quality opponents. They look to Lucy Reike to provide some offensive firepower. They do have the advantage against Louisburg as they have defeated them in the regular season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>To round up the 4A classification, we have <strong>Louisburg</strong> coming in as the 7th seed. They'll look for their magnificent middles in [player_tooltip player_id='152174' first='Allie' last='Kennedy'] and Emma Prettyman to guide the Wildcats this upcoming weekend. They took down Baldwin in straight sets before defeating Fort Scott Tigers to get them to State.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Predictions</span></strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Pool 2: Circle, Clay Center, Tonganoxie, Louisburg</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:separator --> <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity"/> <!-- /wp:separator --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Semifinals</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Andale vs. Clay Center<br>Circle vs Bishop Miege</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Championship</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Andale vs Circle </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Andale defeated Circle once this year, 25-20, 25-23. I'm seeing that the championship match might go to three.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Kansas 4A Volleyball State Champion: Andale</strong><br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><a href="https://prepdig.com/player/jenna-mcclure/"></a></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->