2025 Recruiting Feature: VCNebraska 16 Elite Heads to TC NIT
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Keep the 2025 features rolling. Yesterday, we dialed up a team spotlight of Premier Nebraska 16 Gold, a team full of talented 2025s that will look to make some Triple Crown NIT noise from outside of power pools. It’s time…
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Yesterday, we dialed up a team spotlight of Premier Nebraska 16 Gold, a team full of talented 2025s that will look to make some Triple Crown NIT noise from outside of power pools. It’s time to examine a similarly strong 16s team in the same position: VCNebraska 16 Elite.
16 Elite’s roster has the kind of variety and versatility that makes for an exciting team feature. With Triple Crown NIT being one of the most pivotal recruiting venues of the year for the Class of 2025, there are few better times to give this group its due.
Around the Map
VCNebraska has fielded teams with some geographical diversity before, and this 16 Elite team is no different.
How about the pair of Wahoo standouts? VCN always seems to pull in the best Warrior talent from up north, and you can add Hayden Osmera Hayden Osmera 5'11" | OH Lincoln Northeast | 2025 State NE and McKenna Smith McKenna Smith 5'9" | OH Wahoo | 2025 State NE to that growing list. Fittingly, this duo is similar in the all-around skills they offer to the 16 Elite lineup. Osmera and Smith are dynamic left-side attackers who can also fill in on the right pin or slot into the backcourt to provide passing and floor defense. Leave it to some year-round teammates to give VCN a wide array of lineup options.
Take a trip out west to find Jaysa Wentzlaff Jaysa Wentzlaff 5'9" | S Grand Island | 2025 State NE , another small-town representative for 16 Elite. Wentzlaff joins the VCN crew after emerging as a former multi-sport prep standout for Grand Island Northwest who will be swapping over to GISH this fall. Rotational flexibility expands even more for this group with Wentzlaff providing some serious depth at the setter spot.
Another small-town talent that brings big-time experience to 16 Elite is middle blocker Gretchen Seagren Gretchen Seagren 6'0" | MB Wahoo | 2025 State NE . This Oakland-Craig standout was one of the first Nebraska 2025s on our radar after she helped the Knights win their first-ever state volleyball title in 2021. Since then, Seagren has elevated her game even further and brings some stout playmaking ability to the VCN frontcourt.
We’ll now hop over to the Omaha metro for a trio of high school teammates. Meghan Anderson Meghan Anderson 5'11" | S Omaha Skutt Catholic | 2025 State NE , Nikki Ott Nikki Ott 5'7" | DS/L Omaha Skutt Catholic | 2025 State NE , and Kiera Link Kiera Link 6'1" | MB Omaha Skutt Catholic | 2025 State NE form the dynamic group of Skutt Catholic SkyHawks that showcase their skills at three different positions, and 16 Elite is surely excited about this sudden influx of talent.
Like Seagren, Anderson was a quick addition to our 2025 watch list after making an early impact in the Omaha Duchesne lineup. She then moved to Skutt Catholic and will have a significant influence on keeping the eight-peat alive this fall. Anderson’s skill has already captured our attention a few times at some big club venues, so Triple Crown NIT could be another chapter in that success.
Ott is a ball-control standout who will make her presence felt at the libero spot. This is another athlete to watch on future SkyHawk teams as the dynasty rolls on. Link, meanwhile, has already broken into the Skutt starting lineup and has become a major factor at middle blocker. She now transitions to a 16 Elite squad that will likely lean on Link’s physicality and quickness to earn instant side-outs.
That’s a lot of regional representation, but it’s no surprise that 16 Elite also has its share of Lincoln-area standouts. Lincoln East’s Alexandra Rasmussen Alexandra Rasmussen 6'4" | MB Lincoln East | 2025 State NE is one of those names to follow, as this strong athlete can lock down the net as a middle blocker or an opposite. Keep tabs on where she lines up amid the pressure cooker of Triple Crown.
Norris’s Abbie Apfel Abbie Apfel 5'10" | OH Lincoln Southwest | 2025 State NE could also stake a claim to a couple of different frontcourt positions. We might see on the left side, at opposite, or a little bit of both while 16 Elite navigates pool play in Kansas City. Either way, Apfel will likely be blocking alongside some local middle blockers who have quickly become a strength of the team.
Of course, we’re referring to Amara Siebert Amara Siebert 5'11" | RS Seward | 2025 State NE and Faith Venable Faith Venable 6'1" | MB Lincoln Pius X | 2025 State NE here. Both athletes posted some impressive numbers in their respective sophomore campaigns, including an eye-popping .400 season hitting percentage for Venable with Lincoln Pius X. If 16 Elite can establish this pair on the middle quick, it bodes well for the team’s success against some stiff NIT competition.
Finally, it’s time to address a Lincoln-area athlete who is actually just getting acquainted with the Nebraska scene. Ava Jurevicius Ava Jurevicius 5'9" | OH Lincoln Lutheran | 2025 State NE has made the trek from Cleveland, Ohio, to Lincoln after her older sister Caroline enrolled at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln to play volleyball. The move has landed Jurevicius with VCNebraska, where she can display her well-rounded attributes as an attacker and a backcourt specialist. Welcome to the fray.