State Tournament Predictions: Class D2

Last but not least, here are the predictions for the class D2 state volleyball tournament. Class D2 might be the class that has the least amount of losses in their top 10 ratings. No team in the top 10 has more than 10 losses so far, so class D1 has been a pretty wide-open playing field this season. Here’s a predictions of the 8 possible teams who could potentially be battling for a state title in November. This is NOT the official list of teams going to state, this is just a prediction of the teams who could potentially make it based on how they’re playing so far this season.   Hyannis The Hyannis Longhorns might be the team to beat in D2 this year. They are 24-1 and have only lost to North Central who is ranked in the top 10 in class D1. The Longhorns have beaten every other opponent this season and have only dropped 9 sets. Hyannis is in the same district as Creek Valley and Potter-Dix, so that district final could be one of the must-see matches during district play. Ewing The Ewing Tigers volleyball team has only dropped 8 sets so far this season. The #2 Tigers have only lost to Hartington-Newcastle and Ansley-Litchfield. Looking at the sub district playing field, the Tigers look to be the favorite in their district. If they can make it out of subdistrict and district play, they should be one of the top 3 seeds in the tournament. Red Cloud The Red Cloud Warriors are currently the top team in wild card points for class D2, so we can definitely expect that they will make the state tournament. The Warriors are 25-4 and are currently the #3 team in the D2 top 10 ratings. They’ve had losses to some top-notch class D1 schools, but have been pretty consistent against D2 opponents. Red Cloud Exeter-Milligan The Exeter-Milligan Timberwolves started off as the top team in the state in the preseason ratings this year. The Timberwolves are currently 21-6 have been a top 10 ranked team all season. They have one of the hardest subdistricts, so their potential matchup with Mead could be one of the key subdistrict matches to watch. Giltner The Giltner Hornets are 19-8 and have their hopes set on a berth in the class D2 state tournament. They’ve taken sets from BDS and Blue Hill who are both top class D1 teams and they’ve played well against D2 opponents this season. The Hornets won back-to-back state titles in 2013 and 2014 so this team would love to come out on top at the end of the season. Mead The Mead Raiders have played a lot of matches against class C1 and C2 schools this season and that could definitely pay off at the end of the season considering the competition they’ve played against. The Raiders are in the same subdistrict as Exeter-Milligan, so that could definitely be an exciting match to watch during subdistrict play. Humphrey St. Francis The Humphrey St. Francis Flyers missed out on the state tournament a year ago, and would love to make it back to Lincoln this year. They haven’t won a state title since 2012, so they want to come out on top of class D2 in November. Looking at their subdistrict, they look to be the favorite to come out of the entire district. So we can definitely expect the Flyers to make an appearance at state in November. Potter-Dix The Potter-Dix volleyball team wants to make a 3rd consecutive trip to state this year. The Coyotes have lost in the first round in their previous 2 trips to state, so they want to make it further this season. They have Creek Valley in their subdistrict and Hyannis on the other side of their district so they might have the toughest district to get out of. If they can beat Creek Valley in their subdistrict, and at least make it to the district final, they’ll at least have a shot at getting a wild card.   Like I said before, this is NOT the official list of teams making it to state in November. This is just a list of teams who could potentially make it based on how they’ve been playing this season. District play will be interesting considering a lot of the top 10 teams are in the same district as each other. There will be 6 district winners and 2 wild cards to make up the 8 teams going to state. Considering how well most of these teams are doing anything can happen during districts for class D2.