Which 2026 Watch List Players Had Breakout Junior Seasons?

Let's pivot to the 2026s.   Yesterday, we highlighted a handful of <a href="https://prepdig.com/2024/11/which-2027-watch-list-players-had-breakout-sophomore-seasons/">2027 watch list athletes</a> who took a step forward during this year's fall season. We can apply the same theme to the juniors, so let's do it.   These 2026s might be ready to jump into our next set of rankings.    Let's start with one of the breakout stars of this year's tournament. Cone gave Pierce High School a true 1-2 punch at outside hitter, and we watched the junior flourish on Nebraska's biggest prep stage. She registered 17 kills in the five-set quarterfinal gauntlet against Milford and had 18 more against Wahoo. Cone's effortless athleticism makes her an ideal target on out-of-system sets, leading to her 3.5 kill-per-set average in 2024. She is ready to make her rankings debut.     Mandernach stepped into Kearney Catholic's starting setter role this fall, and the transition went as well as the Stars could have hoped. She dished out over 900 assists through the 2024 season and helped Kearney Catholic make a repeat trip to the Class C1 semifinals. This junior setter gets her feet to the ball quickly, allowing the Stars to atone for passes drifting off the net. Mandernach is a multi-sport standout who has also represented NVA on the club side. Her stock should keep rising no matter which sport prevails in Mandernach's athletic future.     We have to include one of small-town Nebraska's most prolific scorers. Falk has hit well over 0.200 in every season of her high school career, and her kill averages have kept climbing. She put down 3.6 kills per set for Nebraska Christian this fall and saw a dramatic increase in her blocking production. Falk and the Eagles came up just short of a tournament bid this year, so 2025 could bring the redemption tour.     How about another middle blocker from outside the big cities? Lubben built on her outstanding sophomore season with another year of hitting over 0.300 for Johnson County Central. The Thunderbirds took advantage of this explosive production and came within a match of the Class C2 quarterfinals. Lubben will reunite with many of her JCC teammates for the 2025 season, setting up a potential breakthrough next fall.     Kachaturian has been on our radar since the earliest days of Omaha Westview's high school volleyball program. She donned the libero jersey as a freshman and has upped her numbers every season since. This culminated in nearly four digs per set in 2024 as Kachaturian and the Wolverines played some of their best volleyball yet. Kachaturian has also stood out on the Prep Dig Circuit, so her wide-ranging impact has set the stage for her rankings debut.     Garden County captured our attention this fall with an exceptional 25-7 season. Stanczyk catalyzed this effort with nearly 300 total kills and a wealth of contributions in the ball control phase. When Stanczyk wasn't putting down huge kills, she was also putting up secondary sets for the Eagles and helping out her fellow attackers. This do-everything attitude has Stanczyk on our list for the next rankings update.     We're sticking with the smaller schools for our last entry. Bstandig's kill average skyrocketed this fall, culminating in 3.9 terminations per set as a junior. And, like Stanczyk, Bstandig can also put up dimes as a setter and had two assists per set in 2024. Humboldt-Table Rock-Steinauer surged in the Class D2 hierarchy this fall, and versatile athletes like Bstandig will keep the team in the mix next fall.

Let's pivot to the 2026s.