Boys Volleyball in Nebraska
Did you now that there is a club that gives boys in Nebraska the chance to play volleyball at the highest level in the country? Did you know that this club has sent multiple young men to the USA Boys…
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Continue ReadingDid you now that there is a club that gives boys in Nebraska the chance to play volleyball at the highest level in the country? Did you know that this club has sent multiple young men to the USA Boys Junior National Championships year in and year out? Well I didn’t know about them either, until I joined the team myself in high school.
The High Flyers volleyball club started off in 2002 and had multiple teams for girls from the ages of 12 through 18. Club directors Nancy and Greg MacLean really put the High Flyers on the map in the Great Plains Region. They coached multiple players and teams that won Great Plains regional championships, President’s Day Classic titles, as well as national qualifier titles. The MacLeans took so many of their squads to the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships year in and year out and had so much success at the national level as well. A little over 10 years ago, their son Jack MacLean and their neighbor Ben Crusinberry helped start their successful boy’s program.
Now a club that used to be so well known for the talent on the girl’s side of the game is known for the amount of talent they produce with young men from Lincoln and all parts of Nebraska. Jack MacLean and neighbor Ben Crusinberry started off playing together in their backyards. These two grew up right across the street from each other in south Lincoln. After seeing the success Jack’s parents were having with their girls teams, Jack and Ben wanted to get a boy’s team together so they could go out and prove they had their own talent to display.
The MacLeans, as well as Crusinberry were able to find multiple boys who were interested in playing volleyball, but it didn’t come easy. Since boys volleyball isn’t a high school sport and since men’s volleyball isn’t a collegiate sport in the state of Nebraska, finding boys to play was a little bit of a challenge. Once the MacLeans were able to get boys in the gym, so many of them saw the true talent that they could work with and so many boys got hooked on playing. The MacLeans have taken the High Flyers boys program to nationals 7 times in the last 9 years.
In 2009 the MacLeans took their boys team to the AAU Boys Junior National Championships and were able to accomplish a 2nd place finish after 4 days of high level volleyball. After a 2nd place finish at the AAU National Championships in Orlando in the 14 Open division, the MacLeans knew that this could be the start of some national recognition for their program. Teammates Jack MacLean and Ben Crusinberry both earned all-american honors on the last day of the tournament. In 2010 the High Flyers boys team made history at a national qualifier. While they were at the Colorado Crossroads Qualifier in Denver, they were able to become the first boys team in Nebraska history to earn an Open bid to the USA Volleyball Boys Junior National Championships. This was an incredible accomplishment because they got to be one of 22 teams battling for the 15 Open national championship.
After that year, Greg and Nancy MacLean knew that they had so much special talent to work with. They knew that they could hold their own against power house clubs like Sports Performance and Adversity from the Chicago area, as well as NCVC and SCVC from both regions of California. Their boys kept raising their level of play each year and proved that they not only could play with the best teams around the country, but they were capable of beating them. In 2012, the High Flyers had their best finish ever at the USA Boys Junior National Championships while they were in Dallas. They were able to finish 5th in the 17 Club division after falling short of an Open bid that year. Jack MacLean earned all-tournament honors after setting his team to a gold bracket finish. Going into their senior year, MacLean and Crusinberry knew that they had “one last hurrah” before their club careers would end that next summer. After losing 3 players from their 2012 team, the High Flyers had to reload in the positions that they had lost.
A few weeks after the High Flyers were done playing in Dallas, some new players joined them at their practice. I was one of those new faces to join the team after reading about the team through the Great Plains website. I had grown up watching my older sister play club and go to state in high school, as well as watched my younger sister thrive in the sport as well. After learning about the team that’s based right here in Lincoln, I knew I had to check it out. I joined the team at the end of the summer as a soon-to-be sophomore with my teammate Jace Anderson who was also going to be a sophomore.
Jace and I were 2 sophomores playing with 2 juniors and 3 seniors, so it was a fun group to work with. After meeting the team and getting the chance to play with them, Jace and I knew we wanted to stick with it and contribute any way possible. We got the chance to play with the most talented group Nancy and Greg MacLean has ever had, so that first year for us was a year we will never forget. During the 2013 club season, we got to travel to cities like Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee and San Francisco for our national qualifiers and Anaheim for the pre national tournament. We fell one win short in 2 qualifiers from getting our Open bid, but were still able to play in the 18 Club division for nationals. Our team was able to finish 10th out of almost 60 teams when we went to nationals in Reno, Nevada. We were one win short of making the gold bracket after losing to a tough team from Canada in 3 sets. The loss was tough to handle at first for us, but a top 10 finish was definitely still something we took pride in considering we were the only team to represent the Great Plains region at nationals.
All 7 players on our team got to be a part of Jack and Ben’s “last hurrah” after they had spent so many years helping Jack’s parents build that program. Jack went on to be a setter for McKendree University in Illinois for college. Mckendree is a part of the NCAA division I/II MIVA conference which consists of teams like Ohio State, Ball State and Loyola Chicago. Ben Crusinberry went on to play at division III Hunter College, and played an important role in helping that team make the NCAA tournament in his junior and senior seasons. Our former teammate Simon Bruckner is currently a senior playing at Quincy University, and got to play against Jack the last 3 years being in the MIVA conference as well. Greg and Nancy MacLean have now coached 10 boys who went on to play at the college level, and I am fortunate to be one of those players that got the chance to play collegiately after my time with the High Flyers.
After that 2013 season, we questioned whether or not we would even have a team the next year after losing 3 seniors who built such an important foundation for our program. Fortunately for us we had a lot of boys show interest and join the program after that year. Greg and Nancy MacLean to this day still have talented players that want to play at a high level. A lot of these players know about the success that the club has had in recent years, and want to continue that success. I know in my own experience, being a part of this program has been the most special thing I’ve been a part of in my life so far. Greg MacLean and Nancy MacLean give boys in Nebraska the opportunity of a lifetime. The High Flyers boy’s club team shows that Nebraska isn’t only a hotbed for girls volleyball talent in the state, but it’s also a hotbed where boys can flourish and show off their talent as well.