Kansas 5A State Previews and Predictions
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The Kansas 5A State will be at the same site as its 6A counterpart, hosted in Salina at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center. The competition will be held on October 28th and 29th. We were 8 of 8 for our…
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Continue ReadingThe Kansas 5A State will be at the same site as its 6A counterpart, hosted in Salina at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center. The competition will be held on October 28th and 29th. We were 8 of 8 for our predictions in the substate winners. 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. We’ve looked at each of these teams from our substate previews so let’s add more players from Substate information.
Pool 1 (seed) team name [record]
(1) Overland Park – St Thomas Aquinas [35-3]
(4) Andover Central [33-7]
(5) Hutchinson [30-7]
(8) Wichita – Bishop Carroll [28-9]
Our number 1 seed in the 5A classification is St Thomas Aquinas. We went into a deep dive on Aquinas’ roster on the last 5A congratulatory post. We’ll just touch base on for our readers on who they have. Leading the way is southpaw hitter and Yale-commit Betsy Goodenow. I changed the position to “hitter” because Goodenow is dominant on the left and right pins for the Saints. Alongside her will be pin hitter Alea Goolsby Alea Goolsby 5'11" | OH St. Thomas Aquinas | 2025 State #36 Nation KS , who was dominant in their wins during substate. In the middle, we’ll have Ashlyn Reeves and Tatum Grimes Tatum Grimes 6'2" | MB St. Thomas Aquinas | 2024 State #184 Nation KS to provide defense and additional offensive firepower. Their terrific duos of setters in Kelsey Schenck Kelsey Schenck 5'11" | S St. Thomas Aquinas | 2024 State KS and Alayna Vaeth Alayna Vaeth 5'9" | S St. Thomas Aquinas | 2026 State KS has proven they can run multiple lineup options for the Saints this season. Don’t forget Reagan Anderson, Wichita State commit, in the libero jersey, who got the team excited on her kill shot from a broken play during Substate.
The rest of the pool consisted of teams coming from further South and West of Kansas City area, starting with the second seed in Andover Central. The Jaguars will be led by Wichita State commit Allie Paulsen as one of the leaders in kills, blocks, aces, even receptions to name a few. We’ll add a couple players who did well from Substate for the Jaguars. Junior Emma Geier had herself a Saturday, collecting 13 kills, good for second on the team behind Paulsen’s 15. Adding to the list who is on the X-Factor list will be sophomore middle Jordyn Washington Jordyn Washington 6'0" | MB Andover Central | 2025 State KS . Washington averaged 5.5 kills per match during their substate and was second in blocks for the Jaguars this season. Don’t forget about Hayden Snodgrass Hayden Snodgrass 5'9" | RS Andover Central | 2024 State KS who runs their 5-1 offense and recorded 49 helpers last weekend. Central listed 8 players on their official MaxPreps roster and was able to implemented their serving specialist in junior Paighton Crumley, who had 36 aces on the season. If not that’s not enough, add in libero Willow Deckinger Willow Deckinger 5'3" | DS/L Andover Central | 2024 State KS to add 63 aces in the season as well as 289 digs to lead the Jaguars.
Third seed, Hutchinson, go to players are still Maliyah Johnson, who’s averaging 4.3 kills per set this season, and Mya Thompson, 3.4 kills per set. Unfortunately, their MaxPreps is not updated for our State preview. We’ll go to what we know, senior setter Josie McLean upped her assists this season to 771 from 744 from the regular season. Defensively, they will go to libero Grace Posch, who leads the team with 268 digs and 339 receptions. They cruised by their substate opponents with a 25-16, 25-19 against Maize and 25-14, 25-16 against Eisenhower. They did compete with a few big-time schools during the season, pushed Lansing to a 3-setter in September and took down Maize South at a tournament.
Similarly, the fourth seed in Pool 1 in Bishop Carroll’s stats are not uploaded to MaxPreps. From watching them live, this is who I saw: Golden Eagles will look to Lillie Gorges, Ally Larkin , and Emma Stallbaumer for the senior leadership to lead the team. They are complimented well with a few freshmen in Avery McCorry Avery McCorry 5'9" | RS Collegiate | 2026 State KS and Brea Martin Brea Martin 5'6" | OH Bishop Carroll | 2026 State KS for offensive firepower. Gorges plays as a 6-rotation right side, setting when she’s in the back row. Their other setter in their 6-2 lineup is freshman Allyson Orth Allyson Orth 5'9" | S Bishop Carroll | 2026 State KS to make sure that Gorges have the opportunities to swing away in the front row.
Predictions
Aquinas is our clear winner in Pool 1 and then it’ll be a free-for-all for second place. I predict a three-way tie with a 1-2 match record for the three remaining teams with Bishop Carroll pulling the tiebreaker in terms of point-differential.
Pool 1: Aquinas, Bishop Carroll, Hutchinson, Andover Central.
Pool 2 (seed) team name [record]
(2) Lenexa – St. James Academy [33-3]
(3) Maize South [31-5]
(6) Topeka – Seaman [30-8]
(7) Lansing [26-8]
Our first seed in Pool 2 is the state runner-up last year in St. James Academy. We all know about Reese Messer Reese Messer 5'11" | S St. James | 2025 State #6 Nation KS ‘s playmaking capability for the Thunder so that will not be a surprise. Outside hitter Ella Goodwin was hitting well at their substate last weekend and expecting her to continue her roll for State. We often talk about Julia Headley Julia Headley 6'2" | MB St. James | 2024 State #103 Nation KS as she is the Thunder’s leading hitter but we need to recognize her counterpart in Kate McKnight who’s been solid all season with her 0.344 hitting percentage. We love to talk about offense because it’s more exciting but the secret sauce for St James is that they have 4 outstanding defensive players to take the backcourt. Leading the way is libero Mya Bolton Mya Bolton 5'3" | DS/L St. James Academy | 2024 State #134 Nation KS as their dig and reception leader. Katelynn Blaesing Katelynn Blaesing 5'4" | DS/L St. James | 2024 State KS , Lauren Brown, and Heidi Devers Heidi Devers 5'4" | DS/L St. James | 2024 State KS round up the quartet, each with 180+ digs and 230+ receptions during the season.
Maize South took their opponents in straight sets during their substate. Once again, their stats are not updated in MaxPreps yet so we’ll rely on whom we know on their roster. Jillian Gregory Jillian Gregory 6'0" | OH Maize South | 2025 State #66 Nation KS and Gracie Morrow Gracie Morrow 5'11" | OH Maize South | 2024 State KS will be the go-to players in the pins positions. We forgot to mention another pin-hitter in Mallory Pruitt who got the final kill at Substate to send the Mavericks to State. They have a tall presence in the front row, with 6 players over 6 feet. We mentioned 5 of the 6 last time and we’re going to add Cece Young on the list with her 6’2″ frame into the picture (no pun intended). Don’t forget that they have 6’2″ Camdyn Stucky Camdyn Stucky 6'1" | S Maize South | 2024 State #97 Nation KS (Tennessee commit) running the offense in their 5-1 offense.
No stats on MaxPreps but fortunately for you, we scouted a lot of teams this season, including our third seed in Seaman. Brooklyn Gormley Brooklyn Gormley 5'11" | MB Topeka Seaman | 2024 State KS will be a force in the middle for the the Vikings. They’ll still look for Maegan Mills Maegan Mills 6'0" | OH Seaman | 2025 State KS to provide the majority of the offense, complimented by leftie opposite in Jaida Stallbaumer Jaida Stallbaumer 5'8" | S Topeka Seaman | 2025 State KS . Setter Campbell Chabot Campbell Chabot 5'6" | S Topeka Seaman | 2025 State KS impressed me when I watched them with her quick defensive maneuvers and athleticism to get to the ball. Will they be the dark horse in the pool as Seaman was one of the three teams that took a set from 6A powerhouse Washburn Rural this season?
The defending 5A State Champion is Lansing falls all the way to the 4th seed in Pool 2 and the 7th overall. We mentioned a few times regarding their senior playmaker in Skylar Weaver and junior power hitter in Anna Laincz Anna Laincz 5'10" | OH Lansing | 2024 State KS . We’re gonna add a few more dimensions in their magical lineup with middle Virginia Van Der Werff. She’s been the quiet one but put up one of the bigger blocks for Lansing (53 blocks this season). As long as their defensive unit in libero, Jessi Ritchhart, and defensive specialist, Taelyn Jones, can provide the necessary ups, Tabor Scanlon will be able to set up Lansing hitters with controlled and tempo sets.
Predictions
There’s been a talk of “strength of schedule” affecting teams during Substate. I feel like the seedings doesn’t really matter so we’ll go with our gut feeling for our predictions.
Pool 2: St James, Lansing, Seaman, Maize South
Semifinals
Aquinas vs Lansing
St. James vs Bishop Carroll
Championship
Aquinas vs St. James
Aquinas swept St. James at their home- and away- series. Will St. James able to create the magic to right the ship or will Aquinas’ dominance during the regular season stands tall against the opposition?
Kansas 5A Volleyball State Champion: Aquinas