Nebraska Year-in-Review: Biggest Surprises of 2025 (Pt. 2)

Yes, it was a year full of surprises.     Emergent Clubs   Nebraska's club volleyball footprint continues to expand. 2025 brought unprecedented depth and all-around success in the Great Plains Region, making our coverage that much more exciting.   Club Legacy has to lead off our list of emergent clubs that surprised us this spring. We enjoyed a multi-age group renaissance from Club Legacy. This trend was arguably led by the 16s, which piled up wins in major regional and national venues. Club Legacy 16 Alpha started the surge with an undefeated run at Omaha's Presidents' Day Classic tournament. 16 Bravo wasn't far behind with multiple Gold bracket appearances, including a deep run at the Northern Lights Qualifier.   The 17s got in on the action with 17 Alpha's Silver bracket climb at the Show Me Qualifier. Many of these 17 Alpha stars would go on to have stellar seasons on the prep side, particularly in Class A.   Speaking of the Show Me Qualifier, Kansas City is where we learned about the strength and firepower of Club Legacy 15 Alpha. This group stormed to a division title to secure its GJNC spot, cementing Club Legacy's historic 2025 campaign.   The list goes on. Banzai VBC 17 Select deserves a nod for its winning season in a tough age group in the Great Plains Region. This age group included [program_tooltip program_id='428728' first='River' last='City Jrs'] 17 Navy, which came within one match of repeating its title-winning triumph at AAU Nationals.   Club parity is on the rise.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/KingsleyATK/status/1905646814994305532?s=20 </div></figure>     Class A Calamity   Once the high school season arrives, a lot of eyes naturally gravitate toward Class A. The big-city scene produces its share of drama and storylines, and 2025 was no exception. In fact, it was a little more than we were expecting.   Class A had plenty of contenders for the No. 1 seed, but who had Lincoln North Star locking it up this fall? The Navigators enjoyed their best season in school history to sit atop the Class A hierarchy after the regular season. This squad featured a familiar cast of [program_tooltip program_id='428717' first='Nebraska' last='ONE'] 16 Black standouts who used that club cohesion for unprecedented high school success. What a year for Lincoln-area 2027s.   You don't have to go far down the wildcard standings to find our next big surprise of the Class A campaign: Millard South. This was a testament to how experience and veteran leadership can pay off, even if a school is experiencing an extended tournament drought. The Patriots rocketed up the Class A charts en route to the No. 2 seed and provided an amazing curtain call for some of Nebraska's top 2026 talents. This was one of our favorite storylines of the year.   Lincoln Southeast ended its own postseason drought with its first tournament berth since 2017. Unlike Millard South, the Knights were anchored by several underclassmen who should help keep LSE in the hunt for the foreseeable future. This breakthrough might have been ahead of schedule, but it was no fluke.     Cinderella Stunners   We shouldn't be surprised by this one, but it happens anyway.   The state tournament is one of the last big spectacles on Nebraska's yearly volleyball calendar, and we're always primed to expect the unexpected. Upsets happen, and Cinderella teams enter the spotlight. Even with this rich history of postseason underdogs, 2025's breakout tournament teams still took us aback.   Of course, this is our chance to bring Holdrege High School back from the memory bank. The Dusters upset Platteview in the district round to lock up Class C1's No. 8 seed, but Holdrege was not content with a quarterfinal berth. This Class C1 dark horse toppled top-seeded Ogallala and had an equally dramatic semifinal win over Omaha Concordia. We won't soon forget this improbable ascent.   No. 8 seeds kept rolling with one of the biggest tournament stunners in recent memory. On the Class C2 side, Yutan battled past undefeated Johnson County Central to annihilate everyone's bracket from the very beginning. The Chieftains brought some postseason experience to the fold, but that did little to quell the buzz from this monumental triumph.   Teams like Laurel-Concord-Coleridge and Malcolm also belong in this category. We had been anticipating a tournament trip from L-C-C for a few years, and the Bears backed up the hype with a climb to the Class C2 title match. Meanwhile, Malcolm ended Lincoln Lutheran's multi-year state title reign with a quarterfinal win in Class C1.   Eventually, we won't be surprised by Cinderellas anymore. Maybe.   <figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper"> https://twitter.com/KingsleyATK/status/1986172795349574066?s=20 </div></figure>

Yes, it was a year full of surprises.