Club Preview: New Look FC Elite

With a bit of shift and change in the Fox Valley (Green Bay to Appleton to Oshkosh) with Wisconsin Volleyball Academy merging with Green Bay Power to form One Wisconsin, there was a little bit of a scattering of players that may work out to the advantage of FC Elite, which ironically enough is now running their program out of the old WVA practice facility which is now called “The Barn”. The talent runs deep with their 15s-18s only having one team, but the competition at practice between teams provides a competitive gym culture. Here is a quick glance at each age division: 18 Navy: This team has depth, size, athleticism, but what will it take for them to break through to make a USA Open bid. The past two years they’ve qualified for the National Division at USAV, but with their final year and quite frankly, final four months of their volleyball careers before they head off to college, the opportunity is there to compete with some of the best in the nation. -Hannah Vanden Berg of Little Chute was the Appleton Post Crescent Player of the Year, leading the Mustangs to the state tournament with back to back years with over 700 kills. The six rotation outside will take her game to Marquette. -Addison Barnes and Kayla Kraus from Neenah are back and will be heading to Loyola in Chicago next year. -Maggie Cartwright is coming off an ankle injury at the end of the high school season, but athletically is one of the tops in the area and will take her game to Arkansas. Some new additions include Brooke Mosher, the top recruit out of Wisconsin the Class of 2021 who will be taking over the setting duties and Maddie Koch of Ashwaubenon who is a physical attacker heading to Purdue who will add to the firepower. They will kick off their season as the overall number 8 seed in the Open Division of the Northern Lights Qualifier in Omaha this weekend. [caption id="attachment_31236" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2018/12/Katie-DiRaimondo-2020.jpg"></a> DiRaimondo[/caption] [caption id="attachment_31230" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2018/12/Kalli_Mau-2020.jpg"></a> Mau[/caption] [caption id="attachment_31190" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2018/12/Emma-Oelhafen-20201.jpg"></a> Oelhafen[/caption] 17 Navy: This team has the makings to be extremely well balanced all the way around, however they may need to get healthy first. Katherine Walch of Notre Dame Academy is definitely the spark as a libero with returners Katie DiRaimondo of Manitowoc Lincoln and Emily Bruckshen of Howards Grove providing the power on the outside. Carlee Doering of Kimberly will be back as a middle blocker, but is coming off a season ending ankle injury right before Kimberly’s state tournament appearance. Rachael Bohlman of Green Bay Southwest will be back as a setter, but is dynamic and versatile to be able to play any position. Some new additions that will add some depth and firepower will be Kalli Mau who set Kimberly to a state tournament and pin hitter Emma Oelhafen from Xavier who played for WVA last year. Courtney Pearson was slated to be an outside hitter, but unfortunately suffered an ACL tear in basketball in early December with hopes of being back for the high school season. Keep an eye on Mykah Roethel, the Class of 2022 outside hitter players two years up, but is a dynamic pin hitter and defensive specialist. Emma Wollert will be a physical middle and pin from Sheboygan Falls who is a must to put on the radar and will make an impact this upcoming club season. [caption id="attachment_31204" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2018/12/Hattie-Bray-2021.jpg"></a> Hattie Bray will be a newcomer out of the middle for FC Elite 16 Navy this year.[/caption] 16 Navy: This crew will be returning much of its nucleus from last years 5th place finish in the National division at USAV in Detroit. Cora Behnke of Oconto and Linnea Willer of Freedom will provide a ton of firepower on the outside, but the middle play of Emma Mans of Fort Atkinson and Breanna Geurts of De Pere has always been strong. Brooke Bolwerk of Appleton North is a steady and consistent setter who can always be depended upon to run the show along with Kirsten Kraus who can set and hit from the right side. Two big additions will be joining from WVA in Hattie Bray, a dynamic middle who can score on the uptempo set or a slide and is touching ten feet. Natalie Johanknecht of Oshkosh West was playing primarily in the middle on WVA, but will now play a bit on the pin for Elite. And remember the name, Saige Damrow, the Class of 2023 libero who will have plenty of eyes on their court watching her this club season before she’s even started high school. [caption id="attachment_31233" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2018/12/Karissa-Kaminski-20221.jpg"></a> Kaminski[/caption] [caption id="attachment_31161" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2018/12/Berkley-Mischler-2022.jpg"></a> Mischler[/caption] [caption id="attachment_31166" align="aligncenter" width="300"]<a href="https://prephoops-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/pd/uploads/2018/12/Brianna-Cantrell-20221.jpg"></a> Cantrell[/caption] 15 Navy: 15 Navy will be lead by two of the top outside hitters in the Class of 2022 with Karissa Kaminksi of Howards Grove and Brianna Cantrell of Appleton North. Kaminski can do it all. After playing up on 15s last season she was a setter, she could swing from the outside, and is one of the top when it comes to serve receive. She will be playing primarily on the outside, but I could see her being a legit collegiate libero with all of her all around skill. Cantrell is a high flyer who is a six rotation outside that can score points in a hurry as well. Emma Baierl, who was part of the young, but super talented crew from Howards Grove will be running the show. This team will also have the height and athleticism from Berkley Mischler of Appleton North who had one of the top verts along with Cantrell at the Wisconsin Prep Dig Top 250 and Bella Van Lannen who will be on the right side who also preps at Appleton North.