Daily Dozen: 12 Nebraska Six-Rotation Outsides in the Spotlight
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Six-rotation outside hitters are always in high demand, and Nebraska always knows how to bring its share of all-around attackers to the forefront. Recent action in the 2023 club season has brought high-profile outside hitters into the spotlight, especially from…
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Continue ReadingSix-rotation outside hitters are always in high demand, and Nebraska always knows how to bring its share of all-around attackers to the forefront.
Recent action in the 2023 club season has brought high-profile outside hitters into the spotlight, especially from the Cornhusker State. Better yet, many of these hitters possess the passing and defensive skills to stay on the court full-time and make a wide-ranging impact. Today’s edition of the Daily Dozen focuses on a few of those.
No age group is off-limits here, so let’s hop around the map!
Wohlgemuth’s versatility has stood out on some of Nebraska’s biggest stages, as her aggressive serving and gritty defense helped lift Lincoln Lutheran to another state title last year. She’s now bringing those same attributes to the Nebraska ONE gym and was a valuable leader during the team’s journey at the Great Plains Region Bid Tournament.
Hagedorn’s climb through the 2024 ranks has been fascinating to follow, and a lot of that has to do with her influence in every rotation. The VCNebraska 17 Black outside hitter is the kind of crafty athlete you want at the ‘L2’ spot. Among the wide expanse of talented seniors we’ll watch next fall, be sure to keep Hagedorn on your radar.
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Norris athletes have a knack for making multi-positional impacts. That’s the case with Slaymaker, an athlete who is capable of playing defensive specialist as well as outside hitter. She is a mainstay in the Nebraska Juniors frontcourt, warranting her inclusion on this feature.
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Did we mention that Norris produces a lot of six-rotation talent? Jelinek has been the shining example of this over the past couple of years. She began her prep career by taking over the libero jersey for the Titans before switching to outside hitter as a sophomore. Jelinek has been a high-flying hitter on the club side from the very start, however, and few 2025s boast her combination of ball control and terminal attacking.
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So, a caveat here: much of Kucks’s recent reps have been in the libero jersey, where she shows off her willingness to lock down the end line. But Kucks has also spent so much time at outside hitter in club and high school venues that it felt wrong to leave her off this list. Whatever role she takes on this fall, Kucks is sure stand out in a variety of ways.
Piatkowski remains an all-around trendsetter for Nebraska Elite 16 Koa. She captured our attention early in the 2023 season as she played libero-like defense in her backcourt rotations. Make no mistake, though, Piatkowski will light up the scoreboard once she gets her attack attempts on the left pin.
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Hathaway is one of a few six-rotation standouts for VCNebraska 16 Black, a team that showed flashes of brilliance late in the season. This Lincoln Southwest product is not afraid to take up large chunks of the court in serve receive and is equally comfortable in her pass-to-attack skills.
VCNebraska clearly puts a lot of stock in six-rotation outside hitters. Our run from this gym continues with Apfel, another Lincoln-area talent whose best moments are yet to come. When she’s not firing away on the left pin for 16 Elite, she’s likely anchoring the middle-back spot with a penchant for perfect passes.
There’s a lot of pressure on the middle-back player for Premier 15 Gold in the team’s two-setter offense. It’s also the zone where West comes up clutch again and again. Her backcourt defense has taken a big step forward this year, offering optimism that she could take on a similar role with Class B’s eight-time defending champions.
We’ve alluded to Liebsack’s six-rotation dominance throughout the 2023 club season. Her work with Premier 15 Red cannot go unnoticed, and that’s after Liebsack seized some early eyes with Bennington on the high school side. Look for those storylines to carry into the fall in what should be a thrilling campaign for the Badgers.
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Perhaps the best illustration of Ryan’s all-around prowess was during her debut season with Overton last fall. She played for an Eagles squad that could literally go an entire match without making a substitution. The fact that Overton made the state championship match with this lack of platooning is incredible, and it’s a testament to Ryan’s ability to shoulder plenty of responsibilities from the very start of her prep career.
Sure, this high-flying lefty has been the leading terminator for VCNebraska 15 Elite for a while. But more than that, Behrns remains an attacking threat whenever she’s present in the back row. This can be on the pipe, the ‘D’ ball, or just about any gap in between. Put it in Behrns’s window and she’ll find a way to score.