2023 NSAA State Championship All-Position Teams: Setters
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Our post-tournament coverage continues. Yesterday, we gave a nod to the seniors who went out on top with the six state title winners from last week’s championships. It’s time to widen our lens and find the best of the best…
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Continue ReadingOur post-tournament coverage continues.
Yesterday, we gave a nod to the seniors who went out on top with the six state title winners from last week’s championships. It’s time to widen our lens and find the best of the best from each position.
All tournament teams are in play for this one. Instead of assembling an all-class team or an all-tournament team, we’ve decided to break things down by position. This should give us the best opportunity to feature as many players as possible–with more features to come afterward, too.
Let’s start with the players who guided the offense: setters.
We hyped up Long’s impact in the aforementioned senior feature, so check that one out if you haven’t already. The gist from that feature is that Long brought everything you’d want from a setter en route to Lincoln Southwest’s first-ever volleyball title. She ran one of the fastest offenses in the state and paired that with unmatched physicality and aggression at the net. A true champion.
Hickey finishes her prep career as one of the most statistically productive setters in Nebraska history. That says a lot. This star setter had been a constant in the Papio lineup ever since her freshman year, and that all culminated in a title match appearance in Hickey’s final match. With her flawless location and deceptive distribution, Hickey set a high bar that few will ever reach.
A freshman makes the cut. Boesiger had already been on our radar before this fall after playing up a couple age groups with a highly successful Nebraska ONE club team. A runner-up finish with Norris is not a bad way to kick things off on the prep side. Boesiger put up huge numbers in her debut and will only get more comfortable in successive years.
New team, same excellence. Potthoff was one of several players to make the hop from Gretna to newly built Gretna East this fall, and a Class B tournament appearance was the result in Year 1. The Griffins thrived whenever the middles got involved this year, and Potthoff showed a willingness to find them even when passing wasn’t perfect. That’s the sign of an impactful setter. Best of all, Potthoff has one more prep season to put this talent on display with the same personnel around her.
Highlights
Booth has been there since the beginning. When Elkhorn North opened its doors a few years ago, Booth quickly took the spotlight as a fast-twitch, gun-slinging setter. Not much has changed in that regard. We were treated to one final exhibition of Booth’s leadership during the 2023 tournament before she departs for Northern Iowa at the collegiate level.
Kearney Catholic has known all about star setters, and Squiers is yet another bright spot in the team’s long history. She was one of Class C1’s strongest setters in two-hitter rotations and showed a willingness to tally her own kills when given the chance. 2023’s runner-up effort was a memorable one for Squiers and the Stars’ stacked senior class.
Skylar Scholting Skylar Scholting 5'7" | S Pierce | 2025 State NE
Skylar Scholting Skylar Scholting 5'7" | S Pierce | 2025 State NE
Eclipsing 1,000 assists in a single high school season is quite an accomplishment. Scholting was not about to stop there, though, as she guided Pierce to a quarterfinal win over Malcolm and nearly knocked off top-seeded Kearney Catholic in the semifinals. The Bluejays have a lot to build upon with Scholting due to come back as a senior in 2024.
Maser’s reign in the Grand Island Central Catholic lineup helped maintain the standard of excellence we’re used to seeing from the central Nebraska dynasty. The Drake commit dished the ball to a lot of different frontcourt hitters this year, and she remained steady despite the lineup shuffles. That’s the kind of reliability that will suit Maser well at the next level.
Donovan was one of Lincoln Lutheran’s new starters this season, but her performances at the state tournament made that easy to forget. She guided the Warriors with a veteran presence that eventually yielded the program’s third consecutive title. This is another player whose performances in this year’s club season showed she was on the verge of something great. Donovan delivered.
Frahm defines the scrappy, up-tempo style that Elmwood-Murdock showed this year. This senior setter accumulated a healthy dose of assists this year but also added triple-digit kills during brief tenures at opposite. She did anything possible to help the Knights win, and it yielded an impressive semifinal berth this fall.
Sure, Hollatz isn’t necessarily a full-time setter for Clarkson/Leigh. We saw the kind of damage she can do as a right-side hitter, even in out-of-system situations. It’s hard to find setters who are also the second-leading scorer for their team, but that’s the kind of all-around impact that Hollatz offers. She has one more year prep season to keep the momentum rolling.
We’re getting used to seeing Rennerfeldt in Lincoln. She has started for Oakland-Craig in the last three seasons and has been to the postseason in every one. Her freshman campaign ended with a championship. This year’s tournament was another chance to see how well Rennerfeldt gets all her hitters in rhythm with perfect, predictable location.
Jayden Ehrisman
Jayden Ehrisman
It should be no surprise that Class D1’s top-seeded team had a well-balanced offense, and a senior setter deserves a lot of credit for making it happen. Ehrisman set four different attackers to triple-digit kills during the regular season and knew how to find the hot hand in Lincoln. Her dig totals were also impressive, even as GACC’s senior libero piled up some of Nebraska’s best numbers.
Busteed and Elgin Public/Pope John were not about to settle for just a quarterfinal appearance. The #7 seed scored a five-set upset over Southwest to reach the semifinals, where Busteed had one more opportunity to showcase her savvy setting. The EPPJ senior had been a prior standout at Prep Dig Showcase events, so her breakthrough at the state tournament was a long time coming.
Florell, like Long, was one of the seniors who walked off with a state title. This was the long-awaited triumph for Overton, which had seniors at almost every starting position. That continuity allowed Florell to establish unbeatable connections with her teammates, and it showed during this year’s postseason. Indeed, no team had anything to counter the offense that Florell was piloting in Lincoln.