Concordia Team Camp Part Two: Looking for More in 2020; Small Towns, Big Time Players

Erica Twarling

July 10, 2020 @ 06:10 PM

Concordia University hosted their Team Camp Play Day today. Here is Part Two of my time in Walz Arena and the fieldhouse in Seward, NE. Here is a look at some smaller schools and how they performed in pool play and will most likely be in Class D-1 or D-2 this fall. All of these teams made the Top Bracket Tourney (top ten) out of the 35 teams today. Pleasanton: The Bulldogs were the #1 seed in last year’s State Tournament field in Class D. They lost to Fremont Bergan in four sets last year in the State Semis. They will definitely be hungry and looking for redemption in Lincoln this fall with a senior laden team. One thing that stuck out to me was their size for a smaller school. They are tall and athletic! They have a ton of experience coming back. The Bulldogs ball handled and served well in the match that I watched. It allowed them to stay in system. They ran a really good quicker back row attack to keep defenders off balance too. The #35 ranked Class of 2021 OH [player_tooltip player_id="58234" first="Katy" last="Lindner"] has a heavy arm and can put the ball down. Last year she raked in 396 kills for the Bulldogs, had 84 blocks and chipped in 28 aces. Isabelle Paitz chipped in 269 kills and 31 aces last year and Kaci Pierce had 234 kills with 309 digs. Senior setter [player_tooltip player_id="82574" first="Natalie" last="Siegel"] has a ton of options to go to and try to up her set assists of 960 last year. She has good hands and plays smart. The Bulldogs will be fun to watch this fall! Diller-Odell: The reigning D-1 Champs are looking for a repeat this November. Behind the sister duo of Addison and [player_tooltip player_id="59202" first="Karli" last="Heidemann"], look for the Griffins to make some magic in Lincoln. The sisters play club ball for VCN. I absolutely loved watching 5’8" setter Addison, an Iowa State commit, run the show today. She is so smooth and makes setting look so effortless. She can make bad passes look great! The whole team served really well today, too. Her sister Karli, a 6’1’’ Class of 2023 OH had 398 kills as a freshman last year. I can almost bet those two sisters worked on their connection during quarantine in the backyard this past spring. Just a hunch! [caption id="attachment_100852" align="alignleft" width="300"]<img class="size-medium wp-image-100852" src="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2020/07/IMG_4939-rotated-300x197.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="197" /> Fullerton Warriors ( Tie Dye) vs. Grand Island High[/caption] Fullerton: This team is tall and has three Plumbtree sisters on the roster who are all over 6’0 ! They started off a little slow early, but had some really good rallies throughout pool play. Once they improve their ball control when practice begins and communication they will be tough to defend. One thing that stood out to me was how well they served, to keep teams off balance. Class of 2021 6’4" Hannah Plumbtree had 390 kills last year for the Warriors and 45 blocks last fall. Today she had some really nice line shots that were hard to defend with her frame. Her sister Jordan was also very impressive today out of the middle. She moves really well laterally and has a very quick arm swing. Last year the 6’1" Plumbtree registered 302 kills and an astonishing 84 aces in her sophomore campaign. Look for the Warriors to make some noise this fall!