Howells-Dodge goes 2-1 at own tournament

The Howells-Dodge Jaguars went 2-1 at their own tournament on Saturday, knocking off Elkhorn Valley and Shelby/Rising City 2-0 before losing 2-0 to Elgin Public/Pope John.

The Jaguars downed the Falcons 25-12 in set one, and 25-13 in set two.

Kalli Brester finished with 8 kills and 8 digs while Sam Brester notched 7 kills. Tessa Brester dished out 21 set assists.

The Wolfpack beat Howells-Dodge 25-22 in set one, and 25-19 in the second set.

Sam Brester had 9 kills while Kalli Brester totaled 7 kills and 11 digs. Macey Kulhanek added 7 digs while Tessa Brester registered 20 set assists.

The Jaguars downed the Huskies 25-21 in the first set, and 26-24 in the second set.

Kalli Brester recorded 9 kills and 17 digs while Sam Brester and Erin Prusa posted 8 and 7 kills, respectively. Kulhanek and Emily Ritzdorf registered 11 and 10 digs, respectively, while Tessa Brester notched 27 set assists.

Howells-Dodge played good volleyball on Saturday I thought. The Jaguars lost to a really good team in Elgin Public/Pope John, but knocked off a state tournament team from last season in Shelby-Rising City.

Howells-Dodge (7-1) hosts Wakefield (2-8) Tuesday night.

The Trojans went 1-4 at their own tournament, losing to Stanton, Homer, Lutheran High Northeast, and BRLD, but beating Laurel-Concord-Coleridge.

Wakefield has struggled so far this season, and this should be a sweep for the Jaguars.

It's good for Howells-Dodge to play another C-2 foe as it will help prepare them for postseason play, which figures to be tougher than usual for the Jaguars this year.

Howells-Dodge needs to take advantage of these matches against teams in the same class as them in order to get ready for the postseason.

The Jaguars have to come out and execute well, and play a good match. Howells-Dodge can't afford to come out sloppy, and play poorly.

Sam Brester, Kalli Brester, Tessa Brester, Kulhanek, and Ritzdorf all need to have solid matches for the Jaguars.

Howells-Dodge is at their best when all of these players make notable contributions.

I look for the Jaguars to roll to an easy win Tuesday night.

I think Wakefield will give Howells-Dodge their best shot, but I think the Jaguars will be focused and determined to get the job done.

Don't expect the Trojans to just roll over and concede defeat, but expect Howells-Dodge to play well and earn a win.

The Jaguars have another match they should win rather handily on Thursday against Logan View so it's important for Howells-Dodge to play at a high level this week in order to remain sharp for tougher matches down the line.

North Bend Central beats Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family and Raymond Central; falls to Columbus Scotus

The North Bend Central Tigers are 2-1 in their last three matches, downing Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family 3-0 on the road Thursday night before beating Raymond Central 2-0, but losing 2-1 to Columbus Scotus at their home triangular on Saturday.

The Tigers won sets one and three 25-19 over the Bulldogs, and claimed the middle set 25-17.

North Bend Central downed Raymond Central 25-15 in the first set, and 25-13 in the second set.

The Tigers defeated the Shamrocks 25-18 in the opening set before dropping the second and third sets 25-19.

I think North Bend Central has continued to play at a high level. The Tigers were close to beating Columbus Scotus, and probably should have won that match.

North Bend Central (9-1) is at Wisner-Pilger (4-2) Tuesday night.

The Gators swept West Point-Beemer 3-0 last Tuesday night.

Wisner-Pilger has had an entire week to prepare for the Tigers so North Bend Central has to be ready to go, and can't be hungover from the loss to the Shamrocks.

The Tigers must have a short memory, and come prepared and be ready to go toe to toe with a good team in the Gators.

North Bend Central has to come out with that killer drive, that killer instinct to put teams away.

The Tigers weren't able to put the Shamrocks away so perhaps North Bend Central will fare better against Wisner-Pilger.

The Gators are a good team, and the match being in Wisner is going to make it tough on the Tigers, in my opinion, but North Bend Central is more than capable of winning.

I look for the Tigers to bounce back and pick up a win Tuesday night.

I think this team will be a little angry and hungry to pick up a win after what took place on Saturday.

I look for the Columbus Scotus loss to only fuel and motivate this team.

I think you will see a very focused and determined North Bend Central squad take the floor Tuesday night.

The fact the Tigers already swept the Gators once this season makes them a candidate to do it again, although I could see this match going four sets.

North Bend Central has to approach this match with a business like attitude, and must be fired up to play well.

The Tigers have to simply come out and take care of business.

Clarkson/Leigh begins season 2-1

The Clarkson/Leigh Patriots are off to a 2-1 start as they picked up a 2-0 win over Madison at their own triangular last Thursday before falling 2-0 to Stanton, also at the Clarkson/Leigh Triangular last Thursday.

The Patriots won 3-2 at BRLD on Tuesday.

Clarkson/Leigh downed the Dragons 25-21 in set one and 25-15 in set two.

Kaegan Held finished with 13 set assists.

The Mustangs defeated the Patriots 25-11 in the first set and 25-16 in the second set.

The Patriots won set one over the Wolverines 25-23, and took set two 25-14. BRLD won set three 25-18 and set four 25-21 before Clarkson/Leigh won the fifth set 15-11.

Hannah Kasik registered a team-high 16 kills and 8 blocks while Shelby Paprocki had 13 kills and 32 digs. Sydney Folken totaled 7 kills and 7 blocks. Halee Steffensmeier added 17 digs while Held notched 7 digs and 42 set assists.

Clarkson/Leigh is off to a solid start. The win over BRLD was really big.

The Patriots (2-1) host Scribner-Snyder (1-2) Tuesday night.

The Trojans beat Oakland-Craig 3-1 on the road Thursday night.

This should be a tremendous match between two up and coming programs.

Both teams have a lot of talent with Scribner-Snyder being the more experienced team.

It's youth against experience, but don't count out Clarkson/Leigh even though they are young.

The Patriots have done some nice things this season as have the Trojans so that should make for a really good match.

The fact it's a home match for Clarkson/Leigh and the Patriots have more time to prepare for Scribner-Snyder than the Trojans have to prepare for them should be to Clarkson/Leigh's advantage, but don't count out Scribner-Snyder either.

I look for this match to go five sets, or at the very least four.

This match is a big deal for both teams without a doubt, and the winner will no doubt take a step in the right direction in building their program.

Both squads have a lot of potential, and have started to touch some of that potential with big wins so I look for both teams to be extremely hungry come Tuesday night.

Every point and every set is critical as things could very well come down to the wire.

The Patriots have a big week next week, and a win over the Trojans would get things started off in the right way.

Wisner-Pilger 4-2 so far this season

The Wisner-Pilger Gators are 4-2 so far this year having beat Tekamah-Herman and Allen 2-0 last Thursday at the Northeast Nebraska Classic, and Wayne 2-1 at the Classic on Saturday, before losing 2-0 to North Bend Central and 2-1 to Lutheran High Northeast on the same day.

Wisner-Pilger swept West Point-Beemer 3-0 on the road Tuesday night.

The Gators defeated Allen 25-17 in set one and 25-14 in set two.

Jayda Oligmueller had 12 kills while Maci Batenhorst totaled 11 kills and 7 digs.

Wisner-Pilger beat Tekamah-Herman 25-10 in the first set, and 25-17 in the second set.

Oligmueller finished with 7 kills.

Lutheran High Northeast nabbed set one 25-18 before the Gators took set two 26-24. The Eagles won the third and decisive set 25-12.

Batenhorst notched 16 kills while Oligmueller recorded 15 kills and 13 digs. Sutton Bellar added 12 digs while Allissa and Ashton Meyer registered 10 apiece. Lauren Jacobsen posted 7.

The Gators took set one from the Blue Devils, 26-24. Wayne won set two 25-19, but Wisner-Pilger won the decisive set three 25-22.

Batenhorst had a match-high 20 kills and 12 digs while Oligmueller totaled 14 kills and 10 digs.

The Tigers downed the Gators 26-24 in the first set and 25-19 in the second set.

Batenhorst totaled 8 kills and 7 digs while Oligmueller chipped in 7 kills.

Wisner-Pilger downed the Cadets 25-19 in set one, 25-21 in set two, and 25-20 in set three.

Batenhorst registered a team-high 17 kills while Oligmueller added 13 kills and 8 digs. Ashton Meyer posted 11 digs while Allissa Meyer and Jacobsen had 8 apiece.

Head Coach Jean Groth. "We had five blocks at the net that stopped play for them, and it looked like we had earned more kills than they did also at the net."

I think this Wisner-Pilger team is coming along nicely. I think the Gators are ahead of schedule, and newcomers have stepped up and contributed in a big way.

Wisner-Pilger (4-2) hosts North Bend Central (8-0) Tuesday night.

The Tigers swept Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family 3-0 on the road Thursday night.

North Bend Central appears to be a team to be reckoned with once again this year so the Gators have to do what they can to challenge and compete with the Tigers again.

This is Wisner-Pilger's only match of the week so the Gators can focus solely on North Bend Central.

The Tigers are in action this weekend so Wisner-Pilger has to take advantage of the extra preparation time.

It's never easy to beat a team more than once in a season, and so the Gators have to be super pumped and motivated for this match.

Wisner-Pilger gets North Bend Central at home so the Gators have to be ready to roll from the start.

The Gators did a good job competing with the Tigers the first time the two teams met, especially in the first set, Wisner-Pilger just has to finish North Bend Central when they have the chance.

The Tigers are mighty tough, but the Gators are a really good team too.

Wisner-Pilger has to be ready to go blow for blow with North Bend Central.

The Gators have to take things one point and one set at a time.

Wisner-Pilger has to learn from mistakes and not dwell on them.

The ability to let things go and have a short memory will play a big factor in Tuesday night's match, in my opinion.

The team that makes the fewest mistakes and eliminates errors will most likely win the match.

Pender off to 3-4 start

The Pender Pendragons are 3-4 so far this year, having lost 2-1 to Lutheran High Northeast last Thursday at the Northeast Nebraska Classic, 2-0 to Guardian Angels Central Catholic at the Classic last Friday, before beating Oakland-Craig 2-1 and Allen 2-0 on Saturday, but losing 2-1 to BRLD the same day.

Pender fell 2-0 to North Bend Central, but beat Emerson-Hubbard 2-0 at the North Bend Central Triangular on Tuesday.

Lutheran High Northeast took set one from the Pendragons 25-18 before Pender won set two 25-22. Lutheran High Northeast claimed set three 25-6.

The Bluejays knocked off Pender 25-23 in set one and 25-17 in set two.

The Pendragons defeated the Wolverines 27-25 in set one before BRLD took sets two and three 25-15.

The Knights claimed set one 26-24 before Pender won set two 25-10 and set three 25-13.

The Pendragons beat Allen 25-22 in the first set and 25-13 in the second set.

The Tigers defeated Pender 25-9 in set one and 25-22 in set two.

The Pendragons downed the Pirates 25-21 in the opening set, and 25-15 in the second set.

Pender has played very competitive volleyball this season, in my opinion. The Pendragons have taken or competed well in a set against some of the good teams on their schedule, and has won the matches they were supposed to for the most part.

Pender (3-4) is at Logan View (1-4) Tuesday night.

The Raiders lost 2-0 to Tekamah-Herman and Twin River at the Twin River Triangular on Tuesday.

Logan View has yet to find their way this season, and the Pendragons hope the Raiders' struggles continue come Tuesday night.

Logan View's lone win is over Winnebago, and given the way Pender has played so far this season, you would think the Pendragons would win, but Pender still has to come ready to play and cannot afford to take the Raiders lightly.

The Pendragons probably should of beat BRLD. I feel that was a match Pender let get away.

That match is in the past though, and I'm sure the Pendragons have let it go, but hopefully Pender learned they have to do their best to play well in every match.

The week sets up nicely for the Pendragons, and if they can take care of business against both Logan View and Wakefield next week, they will find themselves above .500 heading into the Wisner-Pilger Triangular.

There's a long way to go and a lot of season yet for Pender, but the Pendragons are already doing better this year than they did last year.

I look for Pender to continue their winning ways next week, and pick up two wins.

Both matches are on the road against teams that are in higher classes than the Pendragons so both matches are huge opportunities for Pender to pick up some extra power points.

The Pendragons have to remain hungry and must keep their eye on the prize.

Next week is an important week for Pender, and the Pendragons have to come through and perform well.

Logan View starts season 1-4

The Logan View Raiders have started the season 1-4, losing 3-0 to Douglas County West on the road last Thursday night, falling 2-0 to David City, beating Winnebago 2-1 at the Fort Calhoun Invite on Saturday, and losing 2-0 to Tekamah-Herman and Twin River at the Twin River Triangular on Tuesday.

DC West defeated Logan View 25-10, 25-11, and  25-10. Raiders Coach Doug Bartek was without one of his star players due to knee problems. "We really did play hard, and we did do a lot of good things. I thought defensively we did a nice job. We did serve receive real well. I think we served pretty aggressively. So we found some positives that we could build on. And we hope to get Shay (Daugherty) back, but we'll just have to see how that turns out."

The Scouts knocked off the Raiders 25-16 in set one and 25-17 in set two.

Logan View defeated the Indians 25-18 in the first set and 25-11 in the third set while dropping the middle set 25-21.

The Titans downed the Raiders 25-16 in set one and 25-7 in set two.

Tekamah-Herman beat Logan View 25-19 in the opening set and 25-11 in the second set.

The Raiders are off to a difficult start this season, but at least Logan View has won a match and knows what it feels like to win.

The Raiders (1-4) host Pender (3-4) Tuesday night.

The Pendragons beat Emerson-Hubbard 2-0, but lost 2-0 to North Bend Central Tuesday night at the North Bend Central Triangular.

Pender appears to be an improved team over last season, but Logan View still has to view the Pendragons as a team they can compete with and beat.

The Raiders have to come out inspired and fired up, and cannot come out flat.

Logan View will have had a week to prepare for Pender by the time Tuesday rolls around so the Raiders should be plenty fresh for the Pendragons.

Pender should also be fresh and ready to go, which should make for a good match.

Logan View has to do their best to be competitive and win.

The Raiders have had a tough go of things so far, but a win over the Pendragons would no doubt get the season headed in the right direction for Logan View.

The Raiders have to take things one point, one set, and one match at a time, and continue to believe and play optimistic volleyball.

Logan View has to give each other positive encouragement on the court whether it be in practice or in matches.

The Raiders have to continue to fight and be scrappy. Logan View has to give an all out effort every time they take the court, and play with pride, passion, fire, toughness, tenacity, and grit.

The Raiders can't give up at any point this season. Logan View has to continue to do their best and believe that good things are still to come.

Howells-Dodge begins season 5-0

The Howells-Dodge Jaguars are off to a 5-0 start as they went 3-0 at the Winside Tournament over the weekend and downed Scribner-Snyder and Cedar Bluffs at their home triangular on Tuesday.

Howells-Dodge defeated Winside, Randolph, and Hartington-Newcastle 2-0 on Saturday before downing the Trojans 2-0 and the Wildcats 2-1 on Tuesday.

Howells-Dodge downed Hartington-Newcastle 25-8 in set one and 25-19 in set two.

Kalli Brester finished with 9 kills while Macey Kulhanek and Tessa Brester had 7 digs and 15 set assists, respectively.

The Jaguars downed the Cardinals 25-8 in both sets.

Sam Brester posted 7 digs while Tessa Brester totaled 10 set assists.

Howells-Dodge beat Winside 25-16 in the opening set, and 25-21 in the second set.

Tessa Brester finished with 18 set assists.

Cedar Bluffs took set one 30-28 before the Jaguars won set two 25-23 and set three 25-20.

Sam Brester notched a team-high 13 kills while Kalli Brester put down 11 kills and had 13 digs. Kulhanek registered 20 digs while Tessa Brester recorded 11 digs and 26 set assists.

Howells-Dodge beat Scribner-Snyder 25-17 in the first set and 25-15 in the second set.

Kalli Brester posted 9 kills and 10 digs while Kulhanek totaled 8 digs. Tessa Brester dished out 15 set assists.

The Jaguars have played superb volleyball so far this season. Howells-Dodge has played with the heart of a champion and appears to be primed and ready to make another run at state.

The Jaguars (5-0) host their own tournament on Saturday.

Howells-Dodge starts off with Elkhorn Valley (3-1).

The Falcons swept Niobrara-Verdigre 3-0 Thursday night.

Elkhorn Valley is a good team, but I give the Jaguars the advantage with it being on one of their home floors.

Howells-Dodge is an outstanding, tough volleyball team, and I look for the Jaguars to win this tournament.

Howells-Dodge has a lot of talent and gets the most out of themselves, and that's a combination that equals success.

The Jaguars will no doubt be challenged in this tournament and could face some adversity, but it shouldn't be anything Howells-Dodge isn't already used to.

The Jaguars are going to be tough for anyone to beat, including the Falcons, so teams better look out.

Howells-Dodge has to put fear in their opponents. The intimidation factor could go a long ways in helping the Jaguars pick up some easy wins not only in this tournament, but in other matches later on in the season.

Howells-Dodge knows they have to play really well being they're in C-2 and in a really difficult sub district, but this team knows how to win.

The Jaguars have been there and done that before so it should be another successful tournament for Howells-Dodge.

The Jaguars are in the business of winning championships, and a tournament win this weekend would be another notch in the belt for Howells-Dodge.