Breaking Down Nebraska Elite 15 Koa at Northern Lights
Nebraska Elite was stepping into the gauntlet this past weekend at the Northern Lights 15 Open Qualifier. With the likes of Rockwood Thunder, Northern Lights, Central Iowa Select, Coast, and Iowa Rockets there were plenty of teams with the ability…
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Continue ReadingNebraska Elite was stepping into the gauntlet this past weekend at the Northern Lights 15 Open Qualifier. With the likes of Rockwood Thunder, Northern Lights, Central Iowa Select, Coast, and Iowa Rockets there were plenty of teams with the ability to climb the ladder and be the top at the end of the day. Elite 15 Koa has had big victories over Northern Lights earlier in the season – those are hard to come by. Here is a little breakdown of how the weekend went as well as the players who shined.
L Rockwood Thunder 15 Elite 16-25, 21-25
L Northern Lights 15-1 25-19, 21-25, 18-20
W CIS 15M 25-22, 25-22
W MN Select 15-1 20-25, 25-12, 20-18
L Iowa Rockets 15R 14-25, 22-25
W Vital 15-1 Gold 25-15, 25-15
W FC Elite 15 Navy 25-19, 25-20
L Coast 15-1 Luis 25-17, 12-25, 19-21
Right from the start Elite 15 Koa was up against the top two teams in Rockwood and Northern Lights. Rockwood blazed through the competition dropping one set (Iowa Rockets) the whole weekend, with a really physical front line in every position they were just an offensive machine and a tough defense to crack which allowed them to always be in-system. The rest of the weekend was full of top competition. A tough three set loss to Northern Lights 20-18 in set three stung, however finishing Friday with a win to to CIS who finished third at Triple Crown and the National Bid winner for the Iowa Region was a high quality win. The wins kept piling on with MN Select, Vital (MN), and FC Elite which has the national bid out of Wisconsin. Coast is from San Diego and always one of the top clubs out of California. To lose 21-19 in the third set goes to show Nebraska Elite 15 Koa is right there with some of the top 15s teams in the country.
Top Performers
Abby Schomers – Setter – Class of 2022
Schomers moves so well on the court. Great feet, even better hands, she always is able to be in the right position to get her hitters in position to terminate. A really solid all around player who can run the middles extremely well. The balance of this team is some of the best I’ve seen throughout the season with each athlete brings something different to the table. Schomers seems to bring all that talent together.
Amanda Loschen – Middle Blocker – Class of 2023
Attackers be aware. Loschen brings such a physical presence to the net with her ability to get a touch on the ball. Her blocking came up big all weekend, especially in their win against MN Select. Loschen has such a fast arm and works really well with Schomers. These two are able to combo for plenty of fast tempo swings that opens up the pins for Koa.
Katherine Galligan – Libero – Class of 2022
Huge range! Galligan commands the backrow like a middle lineback reading the offense, anticipating the next move. Whether its covering her hitters or making a pass to the setter on a dime, Galligan is able to really keep the offense in check with solid ball control.
This set is getting ridiculous – tied at 18 pic.twitter.com/zxasPgjzUl
— Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) April 20, 2019
Kylie Weeks – Outside Hitter – Class of 2022
Weeks may be a little undersized (I guess now undersized is under 5’10), which I’m guessing Weeks has to be around 5’9 or 5’10, but she has a hammer for an arm. Whether it may be hitting it hard off the block or finding the split, she is tough to defend. There is such a difference in style between Weeks and fellow outside hitter Ava Heyne, who is more finesse – the two make a really solid combination together providing spark in the front and backrow.
I had to trim down this 34 second rally…@NebraskaElite takes the match 20-18 in the third pic.twitter.com/fWS9QGt5sw
— Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) April 20, 2019