Five Observations from the Beast of the Northeast

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This weekend the Community First Champion Center was buzzing with the Beast of the Northeast bringing 32 teams from all over the state of Wisconsin as well as a couple teams from Michigan. High School volleyball was full throttle this weekend as teams prepare to get into their conference schedule. Here are 5 observations from the Beast of the Northeast.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Fantastic Freshmen for the Future</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This season is just starting but its hard to not look forward when you see some of the fantastic freshman athletes making their presence known already. Kaukauna's got a solid freshman coming up in middle blocker, [player_tooltip player_id='545678' first='Alexis' last='Van Elzen']. Notre Dame Academy's has the smart Liv Waldrop taking swings on the outside pin. Sturgeon Bay will have a bright future with their outside, [player_tooltip player_id='522098' first='Audrey' last='Harrington'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/BreitNelson/status/1829741888045265177","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/BreitNelson/status/1829741888045265177 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Small School Swiss Army Knives</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I for one always love seeing how small schools get creative. They don't always have a huge pool of athletes to pick from and they won't have the depth in every position. I know some small programs have as many players as most Varsity teams carry. One thing you will see is the setter/outside hitter combo. Kingsford has the uber athletic Maddy Krieder on their roster. Newman Catholic has All State standout [player_tooltip player_id='178254' first='Lily' last='Shields'] while Sheboygan Falls has their junior [player_tooltip player_id='249663' first='Kenley' last='Mortenson'] filling the big role. A more unique combination can be found on St. Mary Springs where [player_tooltip player_id='178233' first='Braelyn' last='Lewis'] plays setter and middle blocker.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/BreitNelson/status/1829745955286982664","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/BreitNelson/status/1829745955286982664 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">The Competition was Intense</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>I'm not exaggerating when I tell you there was some really intense matches. Close to 40 matches went into a deciding 3rd set over the 2 days. There were big plays in big moments from a ton of different sources which makes it all even more fun. No one person or team was dominating every match. This speaks a lot to the level of volleyball being played all over the state.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/BreitNelson/status/1829743348929675510","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/BreitNelson/status/1829743348929675510 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Seniors Ready for their Final Stand</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Class of 2025 was making their mark starting with a pair with Luxemburg-Casco. [player_tooltip player_id='178231' first='Campbell' last='Onell'] and [player_tooltip player_id='229533' first='Isabella' last='Vander Velden'] were both showing off their power and their smarts. Attackers from Bay Port were all about adapting this weekend as we saw [player_tooltip player_id='202186' first='Chloe' last='Parker'], [player_tooltip player_id='179097' first='Aubrey' last='Engles'], and Jolie Jacques scoring from all over the court. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">It's Going to be a Great Fall</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This weekend was a clear indicator that there is going to be a lot of great volleyball played this fall in every part of the state.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:embed {"url":"https://x.com/BreitNelson/status/1829992198919655875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1829992198919655875%7Ctwgr%5Eebc79bb52f622162147fde082b6bbe08006bdc8c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_u0026amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.x.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2FBreitNelson%2Fstatus%2F1829992198919655875","type":"rich","providerNameSlug":"twitter","responsive":true} --> <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://x.com/BreitNelson/status/1829992198919655875?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1829992198919655875%7Ctwgr%5Eebc79bb52f622162147fde082b6bbe08006bdc8c%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fpublish.x.com%2F%3Furl%3Dhttps%3A%2F%2Fx.com%2FBreitNelson%2Fstatus%2F1829992198919655875 </div></figure> <!-- /wp:embed -->