Wisconsin D1 Team Rankings – Summer Kickoff Edition
Summer has started. Workouts, open gyms, summer leagues, athletes make the transition from club to high school ball with big dreams of finishing their season at the Resch Center in Green Bay to hold up the gold ball. Who are…
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Continue ReadingSummer has started. Workouts, open gyms, summer leagues, athletes make the transition from club to high school ball with big dreams of finishing their season at the Resch Center in Green Bay to hold up the gold ball. Who are we looking at to make some noise come post-season? With some big graduations from last season, Freshmen who are now Sophomores who know what it’s all about, and an extremely strong Senior class will make for an interesting season full of teams rising up and down the rankings. We will keep tabs on Wisconsin throughout the summer in all divisions. Here is the run-down on Prep Dig Wisconsin’s initial rankings on Division 1 to start the summer. We will continue to release D2, D3, and D4 later into this week and next.
Division 1
- Oconomowoc
- Arrowhead
- River Falls
- Sun Prairie
- Appleton North
- Brookfield Central
- Sussex Hamilton
- Cedarburg
- Burlington
- Union Grove
- Kimberly
- Watertown
- Verona
- DSHA
- Waukesha West
Knocking on the Door: Waunakee, Mukwonago, Manitowoc Lincoln, Bay Port, Oshkosh West, Pewaukee
Oconomowoc – Ocon had a relatively inexperienced roster heading into the season, but finished state runner-up to Burlington who was able to repeat after making their third consecutive trip to the state final. This season, Oconomowoc will be back and will have experience from the start. Right now there will be four Seniors who have given a verbal commit to play at a Division 1 volleyball program. Setter, Tayler Alden (Northern Iowa) along with a backline of defenders which include Caitlin Crawford (South Carolina), Tahya Pozorski (Jacksonville State), and Ashley Sharkus (Eastern Illinois). Class of 2022 prospects Maleah Howe and Haley Koch will be back after a successful Freshman campaign and breakout star Kaitlyn Bingham will be back on the pin as well.
Aubrey Hamilton of ArrowheadArrowhead, Brookfield Central, Sussex Hamilton, and Cedarburg – There could be four of the top ten teams in one section and only one gets to state. Arrowhead probably has the edge with their size and athleticism starting with Aubrey Hamilton, the Senior to be who is heading to Notre Dame, another pin who has always been solid in six rotations is Josie Salzman who has committed to NCAA D2 Pittsburg State in Kansas. They will also have Monica LaFluer and Lindsey Kznarich in the middle who bring quite the defensive presence with their block and athleticism to keep the defense off balance. Emily Larson is the steady Senior libero who is always there to provide a solid first contact and on the right side is Elise Schneider who has committed to Wofford. Brookfield Central was really loaded with talent in 2018, but was inexperienced. Those Freshmen are now Sophomores and combined with the upperclassmen, have the ability to beat anyone. Sussex Hamilton and Cedarburg have multiple Division 1 athletes and again have the experience heading into the 2019 season.
Maddi KealyRiver Falls – The Wildcats will be looking to make their fourth consecutive trip to state and has a large chunk of their team back from 2018 with a loaded Senior class highlighted by their two outside hitters in Emily Banitt (Loyola-Chicago) and Halle Olson (Florida Atlantic). Maddi Kealy, the Minnesota-Duluth commit will be running the offense who will also have Anna Wolf, the Class of 2021 recruit who played with MN Select 18-1 this past club season and drastically improved her game playing for a team who finished in the top eight in the nation at the USAV 18 Nationals in Dallas.
Sun Prairie and Verona – These two will be all too familiar of each other by the end of the season. Sun Prairie was a little bit of a surprise to come out of their section with the likes of Waunakee last season, but with KJ McNabb (Loyola-Chicago) and a really solid upcoming Junior Class they have attackers that can score from any spot in the front or backrow. One key spot to fill will be the libero with the loss of Morgan Jensen who was so solid all season and will be playing at UW-Whitewater. Verona will return Penn recruit Jordan Armstrong at setter as well as their middle Maddy Kelly and Senior libero Amelia Hurst who had 444 digs last season.
Appleton North and Kimberly – North and Kimberly have met each other in the section final the past two seasons with Kimberly being the one to punch their ticket to the state tournament. This upcoming season North will have experience and a ton of talent. They will have three Division 2 commits in setters Taylor Vanden Berg (Wingate University), Brooke Bolwerk (Minnesota State – Mankato), and libero Megan Piton (Colorado Christian). The Sophomore class for the Lightning has been having a big time club season at FC Elite 15 Navy with Brianna Cantrell, Berkley Mischler, and Bella Van Lannen. Kimberly will have a really solid Senior class with setter Kalli Mau (Bellarmine), Carlee Doering, Ruby Esser, and the return of Courtney Pearson who is on track to be back on the court for the season after a knee injury this past December. Pearson had 28 kills in Kimberly’s state quarterfinal match against Burlington. The Papermakers will also return libero Lauren Elliot and middle blocker and top 2021 basketball prospect Maddy Schrieber.
Burlington has won back to back state titles.Burlington and Union Grove – Burlington will take a big hit from graduation with the loss of their pin hitters and Maddy Berezowitz who will be heading to Kentucky to continue her volleyball career. However, they will return setter/middle combo in Kaley Blake (UW-Milwaukee) and Emily Alan as well as a dominant backrow of Juniors in Sam Naber (Marquette), Mackenzie Leach, and Amanda Viel. Camryn Lukenbill is a dominant Class of 2021 middle for the Demons as well. Union Grove will battle it out with Burlington in the Southern Lakes Conference where they have two dominant Seniors in Karlee Lois (Wheeling Jesuit) setting to Olivia Dir (Northwest Missouri State), the two have been combining on the club and high school courts the past three years and have been quite the duo.
For teams like Watertown and Waukesha West, they had a huge season in 2018 with Watertown falling just two points shy of reaching the state tournament with a loss to Oconomowoc while Waukesha West advanced to the state semifinals, but will need to replace Darragh Dixon, Anna Nerad, and Kaylee Lorincz. They will return Alexis Boling, the powerful middle blocker along with Abby Fregein on the outside and Seton Hall commit, Anna Holland. Watertown returns setter Izzy Schauer (Belmont), but will also have a solid core of returners in Allison Stair, Samantha Grey, and Alayna Westenberg.