Kansas 6A Substate Shawnee Mission Northwest Sites (Part 2)

The postseason is here and this will be my first go-around at covering Kansas postseason. If you are like me and new to the substate versions, then let's ponder together why it's called the Shawnee Mission Northwest sites and yet Northwest is not a host school. After talking to some colleagues and locals, the 4 "substates" are actually hosted by the higher-seeded teams in the four brackets or quadrants. Therefore the following Substates are based on their wins and losses record (winning percentage) as we have Olathe West at #1 (24-6), followed by #2 Olathe Northwest (25-7), #3 Mill Valley (28-8), and #4 Blue Valley (26-9).   I conducted a poll on my Twitter <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.x.com/prepdigmarshall" target="_blank">@PrepDigMarshall</a> for each respective Substate and will post their picks and predictions to see who will have a better record!   Mill Valley Substate   The next two substates do not have any play-in matches so it's just a straight 4-team bracket. First we have Mill Valley taking home court against Olathe East. East 's finished the regular season winning their last match against Blue Valley Southwest in a 5-set thriller. Junior [player_tooltip player_id='172451' first='Chloe' last='Tyrrell'] (314 kills) will play a huge impact in the outcome of this match as the Hawks' primary offensive weapon. As mentioned in my last article, the funky 6-2 lineup with [player_tooltip player_id='219708' first='Audrey' last='Wills'] will be interesting to see. The biggest concern for the Hawks will be their libero position if [player_tooltip player_id='219713' first='Kate' last='Wright'] will be back or not. Mill Valley will fight back with freshman sensation [player_tooltip player_id='154038' first='Ella' last='Florez'] running the hybrid 6-2 offense. During the regular season, Florez and junior [player_tooltip player_id='216374' first='Ava' last='Jones'] dished out 378 and 361 assists, respectively. [player_tooltip player_id='153938' first='Saida' last='Jacobs'] and [player_tooltip player_id='493515' first='Ashlyn' last='Blazer'] will provide a more consistent offense through the middle compared to Olathe East's squad. Mill Valley have too much of the good stuff to lose the first semifinal match.   <figure class="wp-block-embed alignleft is-type-rich is-provider-crowdsignal wp-block-embed-crowdsignal"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://poll.fm/11223796 </div></figure>   After watching many Blue Valley Northwest matches in person, I know that this team will be trouble if they get hot at the right time. Freshman [player_tooltip player_id='222086' first='Morgan' last='Sears'] have been killing it (literally) in the middle position. Add in a healthy [player_tooltip player_id='221225' first='Lainie' last='Douglas'] and I don't think anyone is stoping this team on Saturday. Olathe North will try to stop the offensive-minded Huskies with Erin Matzke in the middle as the Eagle's number one blocker. Expect to have senior Kyleigh Connell to provide some offensive spark on the right side. I saw them last against Olathe South and they could not handle the pressure of South's offense losing in 3 sets during Dig Pink Olathe event. I do not think that they will be able to contain Northwest's firepower as I will take the Huskies to be the winner of this match.   The final will be interesting on who will serve-receive and defend better. I give the advantage to Blue Valley Northwest with Texas A&M commit, [player_tooltip player_id='122202' first='Alayna' last='Pearson'], sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='219709' first='Summer' last='Anderson'], and junior [player_tooltip player_id='152834' first='Remi' last='Nuss']. The Huskies will upset the home team and will go to State.   Prep Dig Marshall = Blue Valley Northwest Twitter Poll = Mill Valley (66%), Blue Valley Northwest (26%), Olathe East pulling the upset (6%)   Blue Valley Substate   In our last quadrant, Blue Valley will host Wyandotte for the first match of the day. The Tigers 10 seniors and libero [player_tooltip player_id='150068' first='Ryan' last='McAleer'] should have no issue taking down the Bulldogs in straight sets. Kate Peterson will lead the charge with a plethora of offensive weapons in [player_tooltip player_id='152172' first='Julia' last='Kinney'] and [player_tooltip player_id='152168' first='Avery' last='Delong'] on the pins while Tiana Simmons will be a force in the middle.   <figure class="wp-block-embed alignright is-type-rich is-provider-crowdsignal wp-block-embed-crowdsignal"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://poll.fm/11223814 </div></figure>   The three seniors for Shawnee Mission Northwest will make sure that the Cougars will play in the substate final. [player_tooltip player_id='120038' first='Tori' last='Creason'] has 757 assists in the season running their 5-1 offense, feeding the other senior hitters [player_tooltip player_id='171295' first='Elinor' last='Engel'] (264 kills) and [player_tooltip player_id='152169' first='Vix' last='Vilott'] (236 kills). The three Seniors account for more than 60% of Northwest's points. Junior Kate Reese has been solid in the libero jersey with 327 digs and 310 receptions on the year. Gardner-Edgerton can be a solid team as they took some sets over quality teams and a victory over Lawrence Free State (who's #4 on the other Substate). The Trailblazer do not have their stats on MaxPreps but lucky for you, I watched them play during the season. They run their 5-1 through [player_tooltip player_id='214636' first='Ryleigh' last='Sander'] and listed at 5'5" may have trouble defending the Cougars offensive power. They will fight back with junior outside hitter Eleanor Marshall and leftie opposite [player_tooltip player_id='515482' first='Elise' last='Hmielewski']. To be frank, Shawnee Mission Northwest should have little trouble getting to the final showdown against Blue Valley.   The battle of the Seniors is the one needed to be won if you want to go to State. As mentioned above, Blue Valley have 10 Seniors on their roster to Northwest's 3. The X-Factor in this match is whether or not [player_tooltip player_id='214643' first='Brooklyn' last='Farris'] and [player_tooltip player_id='152162' first='Connelly' last='Kilgore'] will have monumental points to swing the match for Blue Valley. The match will go to a decisive set where Blue Valley will be victorious and head to Salina.   Prep Dig Marshall = Blue Valley Twitter poll = Blue Valley (64%), Shawnee Mission Northwest (36%)   <hr class="wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity" />   Follow Twitter <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="http://www.x.com/prepdigmarshall" target="_blank">@PrepDigMarshall</a> to participate in the twitter poll! Use #KSpickemSubstate22 and #SubstatePickEm to find past, current, and future polls!

The postseason is here and this will be my first go-around at covering Kansas postseason. If you are like me and new to the substate versions, then let's ponder together why it's called the Shawnee Mission Northwest sites and yet Northwest is not a host school. After talking to some colleagues and locals, the 4 "substates" are actually hosted by the higher-seeded teams in the four brackets or quadrants. Therefore the following Substates are based on their wins and losses record (winning percentage) as we have Olathe West at #1 (24-6), followed by #2 Olathe Northwest (25-7), #3 Mill Valley (28-8), and #4 Blue Valley (26-9).