Young Talent to Help Griffins Pave the Way

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Gretna East High School will be opening in a few weeks, but the Griffins have been busy at it on the court this summer with camps. A familiar face will be leading the Griffins as Mike Brandon will change from Gretna Dragon Green and Yellow to Griffin Black and Yellow. He will be assisted by Dean Farley, Hope Leimbach and Sierra Stellern. His former assistant Wendy Alexander takes over the Gretna Dragons this fall.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Brandon's outlook on his new team this season, “We are a young team with limited Varsity experience, so we will need to learn to compete at a high level in a short amount of time. We will have grades 9-11 and will be competing in the Metro Conference, but will be in Class B in year one. We've put together a great coaching staff and have an enthusiastic and hard-working group of girls, so we have high hopes for year one of Gretna East Volleyball.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Headlining the Griffins transition this year will be 5'10” Class of ‘25 MH/OH [player_tooltip player_id='209291' first='Hayden' last='Hart'] who plays for Premier 16 Gold. In her sophomore year as a Dragon she hammered 194 kills, 44 total blocks and 19 ace serves. She is explosive, runs the slide well and can pretty much hit the ball from anywhere in the front row with her quick arm.Her versatility makes her hard to stop. Watching Hart at the Prep Dig 250 Expo in LaVista last winter, she stood out to me right away. Obviously her athletic ability, but her court presence as far as her enthusiasm and energy. Hayden will be a great foundation for the Griffins to build around this season.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:gallery {"linkTo":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-gallery has-nested-images columns-default is-cropped"><!-- wp:image {"id":255192,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"none"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img src="https://prepdig.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2022/12/51_Hayden-Hart-2.jpg?w=1024" alt="" class="wp-image-255192" /></figure> <!-- /wp:image --></figure> <!-- /wp:gallery --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Premier 16 Black and Class of ‘25 5'9” Setter [player_tooltip player_id='230003' first='Nyah' last='Potthoff'] will also be a key player for the Griffins this fall. Potthoff had 547 set assists and 37 ace serves for the Dragons. Her serve is lethal and it just dies before passers are able to judge the ball. She has strong hands and does a nice job of squaring to her hitters from anywhere on the floor. Nyah reads hitters well and plays great floor defense as well.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>5'11” Class of ‘25 OH [player_tooltip player_id='342514' first='Maddie' last='Schnell'] will also be a great pin hitter for the Griffins. She can hit down the line or a sharp cross court shot. She had limited varsity time playing in 12 sets last year as a sophomore with 14 kills, 18 digs, but look for her to have a breakout year for the Griffins. Schnell's ceiling is high!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>6 '1 " Class of ‘25 Haley Levinson, a Premier 15 Black athlete has long-levers and blocks well. Look for her to be much more improved offensively this season as she gets stronger in the Griffin system. She had 14 kills and 5 stuff blocks in 10 sets for the Dragons last fall. Keep her on your radar!&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>5'7” DS/L [player_tooltip player_id='189351' first='Gabby' last='Lund'] on Premier 16 Black has a nice float serve that will keep teams on their toes. She reads hitters well, plays a strong back row and is not afraid to hit the floor.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p> Class of ‘25 DS/L and Premier 15 Black athlete [player_tooltip player_id='342620' first='Maggie' last='Williams'] is pesky in the back row. She has great body control when she digs and does not let a lot hit the ground.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>2026 OH/DS [player_tooltip player_id='349417' first='Halle' last='Nienaber'] from Premier 15 Silver is a firecracker on the outside. She packs a punch for being only 5'7” and jumps really well. She too has a great jump float serve that will make opponents get out of system. ‘</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Incoming freshman Class of 2027 S/OPP&nbsp; [player_tooltip player_id='458077' first='Ava' last='Waters'] is another player to keep an eye on for the Griffins notes Coach Brandon.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Keep the Griffins on your radar as an up and coming team this year in Class B as they will be a well coached squad with a lot of enthusiasm and club experience as well. They will also be battle tested from playing in the primarily Class A Metro Conference which will help them grow up fast as they approach postseason play!</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->