Wednesday Rewind: 5 Big Takeaways from Last Night
This fall, we will spend Wednesdays taking a look back at some of the most important happenings from the night before in high school volleyball. Here are five big takeaways from Tuesday, Sept. 25. #1 – Millard South getting all-state…
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Continue ReadingThis fall, we will spend Wednesdays taking a look back at some of the most important happenings from the night before in high school volleyball.
Here are five big takeaways from Tuesday, Sept. 25.
#1 – Millard South getting all-state setter Jaisee Stinson back for final month of season
The depth of talent in Class A got a little deeper on Tuesday night as Class A #7 Millard South welcomed back all-state setter Jaisee Stinson as the Patriots swept both Omaha Bryan and Omaha Westside in a triangular. Stinson, a Hastings College recruit, has missed the entire season up to this point as she recovered from a torn ACL during last basketball season.
According to Patriot coach Jaisa Poppleton, Stinson is likely to be a full-go this weekend at the Lincoln Northeast Invitational. Stinson has been the starting setter for Millard South since the very start of her freshman year. Last season she averaged 9.2 assists, 2.3 digs and 1.9 kills per set for Millard South and for her career she has 2,134 assists and 437 kills.
In her place, freshman Mikayla Fleming has helped lead the Patriots to an 8-8 record overall. The Patriots used a two-setter system in the triangular last night. Stinson finished the two matches with 21 assists, three digs and a kill while Fleming had 13 assists and 14 digs. Maggie MacTaggart and Lauren Walenz each had 15 total kills on the night for Millard South while Claire Larson had five aces and 17 digs total.
Millard South currently sits in 10th place in NSAA wild card points. It will be interesting to see how quickly Stinson shakes the rust off and whether or not she can help the Patriots move up into the top seven and earn a home district.
#2 – Top-ranked Millard North shakes off first loss, scores 3-1 win over Papillion-LaVista
When things are going good, life can be easy. But, you really find out a lot about teams when they hit a down spot. Judging from the way Millard North bounced back Tuesday night from its first loss over the weekend, the Mustangs are still the team to beat in Class A.
Millard North improved to 20-1 on the year with a 25-19, 18-25, 25-22, 25-16 win over Papillion-LaVista, ranked #5 in Class A.
Allie Kerns and Paige Holdsworth each had 14 kills for Millard North and McKenna Ruch had nine kills and 13 digs while Emmy Grant had nine kills and two blocks. Emma Altman finished with 32 digs and Izzy Lukens had 51 assists for Millard North.
Norah Sis led all players with 29 kills for the Monarchs while Chloe Paschal had 14. Brooklyn Schram had 42 assists for Papillion-LaVista.
It was also a good night to see college coaches in the stands as Creighton’s Kirsten Bernthal-Booth was in attendance to watch recruit Sis while Bellevue University’s Trish Siedlik and big chunk of her team were on hand to watch future Bruin Holdsworth.
#3 – Don’t look now, but here comes Grand Island Northwest in Class B
Look, you just don’t lose as much talent as Grand Island Northwest did and just pick up the pieces and keep moving forward. Add to that the retirement of a coaching legend in Diane Rouzee and I think everyone understood that it was going to be a year of adjustment for the Vikings. Sometimes it just takes new players and coaches a little bit to figure things out.
After a 3-9 start, Northwest has won three straight, beating Aurora, rallying from an 0-2 deficit to beat Kearney Catholic and then the Vikes held on for a 25-18, 25-23, 21-25, 23-25, 15-13 win over Hastings Adams Central last night.
Five players for Northwest had double-doubles last night, including Whitney Jensen, who had 20 kills and 21 digs and Lindsey Sonnenfeld, who finished the match with 13 kills and 17 digs. Whitney Brown had four aces, 5 1/2 blocks, 22 assists and 12 digs while Brynna Lewis had 25 assists, 10 digs and three blocks.
Northwest has reached the state tournament 17 years in a row and is now up to 15th place in the NSAA wild card points standings as the Vikes look to continue to move up and secure their shot at reaching substate with a chance to make it 18 years in a row.
#4 – Maggie Brahmer of Pierce absolutely went off against Laurel-Concord-Coleridge
She doesn’t necessarily get a lot of pub, but there aren’t a whole lot of players in the state better than Maggie Brahmer at Pierce.
In a 22-25, 25-19, 25-22, 24-26, 15-9 win over Laurel-Concord-Coleridge last night, the Wayne State recruit went off for 30 kills to lead Pierce and she also had 2 1/2 blocks and 10 digs. Rhayna Waldner added 12 kills while Kenzie Moeller had 27 digs and Kayla Simmons finished with 43 assists for Pierce, which improved to 10-7.
#5 – Big nights from Atley Carey, Brooke Peltz carry Lincoln East past Kearney
South Dakota recruit Atley Carey had one of the best night of her career as the junior went off for 15 kills, six ace serves and three blocks while teammate Brooke Peltz added 17 kills in Lincoln East’s 25-27, 25-18, 25-20, 25-21 win over Kearney.
Bella Terrano added 37 digs for the Spartans (11-9) while Alex Lemke had 55 assists.
Claire Vanderbeek led Kearney (12-7) with 15 kills while Adison Wood had 27 digs and Alexis Mishou had 25 assists.