Class D-2 State Tournament Preview, Capsules
To call the top half of the Class D-2 state volleyball tournament top heavy might be the understatement of the week.
The Class D-2 state tournament’s first round gets started at 1:30 p.m. on Thursday at Lincoln East with a match that will pit two-time defending D-2 state champion Giltner against two-time defending D-1 state champion O’Neill St. Mary’s, which has dropped down a class this year. It is believed to be the first time in state volleyball history that two defending state champions will square off in the first round.
St. Mary’s has just two losses on the season – both coming to conference rival Stuart in September. St. Mary’s, however, bounced back to beat Stuart twice in October and again last week in the subdistrict final between the two teams as the senior-dominated Cardinals come into the state tournament on an 18-match winning streak.
Giltner has been a tale of two teams this year as the Hornets went 13-2 in September before injuries sent the Hornets spiraling downward during a 4-9 October. A fortunate district placement allowed for a smooth path to Lincoln for the Hornets to defending their title facing just one team with 15 or more wins.
Once the clash of defending champions is over, Hampton and Stuart will tangle in what might be the most entertaining first-round match of the entire state tournament.
Stuart has lost to Giltner in each of the last two D-2 championship matches, and has a roster loaded with talented seniors making their final push for a state title. Three of Stuart’s losses have come to St. Mary’s with the only other coming to Clearwater-Orchard in a head-scratching outcome three weeks ago.
There is no hotter team in D-2 right now, however, than Hampton. The Hawks got out of the gate slow this year, going 4-3 in their first seven matches but have since gone 23-2 and their only loss since Sept. 19 came against Exeter-Milligan in a 3-1 loss in the Crossroads Conference championship. Hampton, however, avenged that loss in the subdistrict final between those two teams and the Hawks have lost just one set to a team not named Exeter-Milligan since Sept. 19.
Exeter-Milligan will get Humphrey St. Francis in the first round Thursday and the Timberwolves have certainly found themselves on the right side of the bracket in this tournament. Exeter-Milligan has just two losses to Hampton and two to Class C-2 #1 Freeman on its resume. On top of that, the Timberwolves have put up their record against one of the toughest schedules in D-2 and have played just one team with a losing record in the past month.
Humphrey St. Francis is making its 21st appearance at the state tournament – most among all D-2 teams – and returns have a first-round loss to St. Mary’s in Class D-1 last year. The real question or the Flyers is if they can knock off a team as good as Exeter-Milligan, which it was not able to do during the regular season. The Flyers only beat three teams all year with a winning record in 25-7 Heartland Lutheran (twice), 17-13 Riverside (once) and 18-11 Spalding Academy (twice). In total, Humphrey St. Francis has gone just 5-9 against teams with a winning record this year.
The jury is still out in many ways on the two teams in the final match of the day between Potter-Dix and Sandhills-Thedford. While the Coyotes of Potter-Dix put up an impressive 27-3 mark this season, they did it against one of the easiest schedules in all of D-2. According to MaxPreps, Potter-Dix’s strength of schedule was 44th out of the 57 D-2 schools. In fact, Potter-Dix had just one opponent this year with a winning percentage at .750 or higher – Paxton – and those two teams split two matches this year.
Sandhills-Thedford, meanwhile, is the only undefeated team in the state. The Knights, however, racked up their 32 wins against in dominant fashion, dropping just four sets all year long. While Sandhills-Thedford doesn’t have any marquee wins on the season, the Knights have not had a cupcake schedule as 19 of their 32 wins have come against opponents with winning records. Sandhills-Thedford is also the only D-2 team that will feature three players at 6-foot or taller.
TEAM CAPSULES
Exeter Milligan Timberwolves
Record: 24-4
Strength of Schedule in D-2: 2nd out of 57 schools
Head Coach: Darcy White
Seed: 2
NPV Ranking: 2
Conference: Crossroads
Trips to State: Making 9th appearance
Last Time at State: 2014
State Titles: 3
Record at State: 14-5
Team Kill Leader: Marissa Howard, 5-foot-7, sr., MH – 261
Team Block Leader: Howard – 54
Team Dig Leader: Hailey Luzum, 5-foot-7, sr., OH – 228
Team Assist Leader: Sydney Hall, 5-foot-9, sr., setter – 672
Potter-Dix Coyotes
Record: 27-3
Strength of Schedule in D-2: 44th out of 57 schools
Head Coach: Sarah Dvorak
Seed: 6
NPV Ranking: 9
Conference: Minuteman
Trips to State: Making 11th appearance
Last Time at State: 2007
State Titles: 1
Record at State: 7-9
Team Kill Leader: Alexis Rozelle, 5-foot-9, jr., MH – 196
Team Block Leader: Rozelle – 57
Team Dig Leader: Regyn Hicks, 5-foot-8, sr., MH – 363
Team Assist Leader: Alana Thies, 5-foot-8, jr., setter – 632
Humphrey St. Francis Flyers
Record: 24-4
Strength of Schedule in D-2: 13th out of 57 schools
Head Coach: Dean Korus
Seed: 7
NPV Ranking: Not ranked
Conference: Goldenrod
Trips to State: Making 21st appearance
Last Time at State: 2014
State Titles: 3
Record at State: 23-17
Team Kill Leader: Logan Wemhoff, 5-foot-10, soph., OH – 237
Team Block Leader: Reagan Wegener, 6-foot-1, sr., MH – 77
Team Dig Leader: Morgan Bender, 5-foot-7, sr., libero – 382
Team Assist Leader: Bailey Klassen, 5-foot-5, jr., setter – 641
Giltner Hornets
Record: 20-11
Strength of Schedule in D-2: 9th out of 57 schools
Head Coach: Kurt Polt
Seed: 8
NPV Ranking: Not ranked
Conference: Crossroads
Trips to State: Making 15th appearance
Last Time at State: 2014
State Titles: 7
Record at State: 28-7
Team Kill Leader: Chainey Tompkin, 6-foot, sr., MH – 478
Team Block Leader: Tompkin – 61
Team Dig Leader: Tompkin – 197
Team Assist Leader: Morgan Wilson, 5-foot-7, soph., setter – 729
Sandhills-Thedford Knights
Record: 32-0
Strength of Schedule in D-2: 29th out of 57 schools
Head Coach: Shawn Harvey
Seed: 3
NPV Ranking: 4
Conference: Mid-Nebraska
Trips to State: Making 2nd appearance
Last Time at State: 2008
State Titles: 0
Record at State: 2-1
Team Kill Leader: Madison Taylor, 6-foot-1, sr., MH – 250
Team Block Leader: Marlee Taylor, 6-foot-2, fresh., MH – 61
Team Dig Leader: Rebecca Higgins, 5-foot-11, jr., OH – 170
Team Assist Leader: Kyra Miles, 5-foot-8, jr., setter – 739
O’Neill St. Mary’s Cardinals
Record: 29-2
Strength of Schedule in D-2: 4th out of 57 schools
Head Coach: McKenzie Connot
Seed: 1
NPV Ranking: 1
Conference: Niobrara Valley
Trips to State: Making 5th appearance
Last Time at State: 2014
State Titles: 2
Record at State: 7-3
Team Kill Leader: Sydney Hupp, 6-foot, sr., MH – 239
Team Block Leader: Hupp – 28
Team Dig Leader: Riley Sibbel, 5-foot-, sr., OH – 273
Team Assist Leader: Taylor Colman, 5-foot-9, jr., setter – 623
Stuart Broncos
Record: 25-4
Strength of Schedule in D-2: 7th out of 57 schools
Head Coach: Teresa Mustin
Seed: 4
NPV Ranking: 3
Conference: Niobrara Valley
Trips to State: Making 9th appearance
Last Time at State: 2014
State Titles: 8
Record at State: 5-8
Team Kill Leader: Monique Schafter, 5-foot-9, sr., OH – 261
Team Block Leader: Hailey Paxton, 5-foot-11, sr., MH – 53
Team Dig Leader: Schafter – 258
Team Assist Leader: Jaden Schafer, 5-foot-5, sr., setter – 681
Hampton Hawks
Record: 27-5
Strength of Schedule in D-2: 5th out of 57 schools
Head Coach: Diane Torson
Seed: 5
NPV Ranking: 5
Conference: Crossroads
Trips to State: Making 16th appearance
Last Time at State: 2011
State Titles: 3
Record at State: 16-12
Team Kill Leader: Madison Van Housen, 5-foot-9, jr., MH – 339
Team Block Leader: Tayler Klassen, 5-foot-9, jr., MH – 61
Team Dig Leader: Tristin Mason, 5-foot-6, jr., OH – 340
Team Assist Leader: Jaime Troester, 5-foot-8, jr., setter – 799