Class 4 Districts 13 and 14
There is always excitement around playoff time. There are teams who believe they have what it takes to make a run and survive and advance. There are other teams unfortunately who are happy the season is coming to an end.…
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Continue ReadingThere is always excitement around playoff time. There are teams who believe they have what it takes to make a run and survive and advance. There are other teams unfortunately who are happy the season is coming to an end. Nonetheless, we are always happy to preview and predict the action set to play place and we continue that in Class 4 with the district 13 and 14 previews.
Class 4 District 13
Pleasant Hill has earned the top seed after a 20-10 regular season. They did own a 10 game winning streak. Sophomore Aby Widhalm has been on fire this fall, boasting 321 kills. Junior Gracie Layton has been strong too, with 231. Molli Johnson has been stellar in her final run. After playing in only 8 sets last year after a strong sophomore season, the libero returned to lead the team with 397 digs. The tandem of Isabel Bakken and Ela Hanes has just under 900 assists on the year. They will face the winner of the Grandview/Ruskin match. We will pick Grandview over Ruskin but Pleasant Hill will be way too much for Grandview to handle.
Second seed Harrisonville (12-9-2) will face third seed St. Michael the Archangel (13-16-2) in the second semi. Kennedy Smalley Kennedy Smalley S Harrisonville | 2023 State MO had no sophomore slump and returned to drop 202 kills this year, with 214 digs and over 200 assists for good measure. Sophomore Lexi George has been a good addition in the 6-2, adding over 200 assists of her own. St. Michael lost to Harrisonville earlier this season 3-1. They are 5-1-1 in their last 7 outings, so they hope for that momentum to carry into this weekend. The duo of Lily Vanbebber Lily Vanbebber 5'9" | OH St. Michael the Archangel | 2024 State MO and Remy Convinsky will be key in determining if they can get the win. The two both have over 230 kills this fall. Junior Sophia Ames will try to get them the ball as much as possible. This is really a pick-em in our eyes but will roll with Harrisonville.
We will go with Pleasant Hill and the arm of Aby Widhalm to win district 13.
Class 4 District 14
Lincoln College Prep (16-15 had a turnaround season and will be the top seed. We applaud coach Blake Matthews for the work he put in with these athletes to help them find success. They haven’t updated stats in quite some time but Seniors Cheyenne Harris and Nyasia Wright, along with Sophomore Audrey Verkler were key contributors early on. They will await the Raytown South versus East match. We have no insight on this match and will just pick Lincoln Prep to get to the finals.
The 2 vs. 3 match will be Pembroke Hill and Center. Pembroke Hill (13-11-2) has probably played the tougher schedule out of the teams in this district. They have losses to Lee’s Summit, Heritage Christian, St. Pius, Park Hill, and Grain Valley all in the first month of the season. Sarah Lattan Sarah Lattan 6'2" | MB Pembroke Hill | 2022 State MO , Sydney Draper Sydney Draper 5'11" | S Pembroke Hill | 2023 State #143 Nation MO , Paige Edwards Paige Edwards 5'9" | OH Pembroke Hill | 2022 State MO , and Katie Hargroves Katie Hargroves 5'10" | OH Pembroke Hill | 2023 State MO are all experienced players and will help take down Center.
Lincoln has more wins but Pembroke has more quality losses. When we factor in that along with the likes of Lattan and Draper, we will go with Pembroke Hill, which will not be an upset in our eyes.