Day one of the 50th NSAA state volleyball tournament took place Wednesday at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln. Opening round games were played in classes A, B, and C1. Gothenburg made its first appearance at the state volleyball tournament on Wednesday in Class C1. The Swedes took the opening set against the #2 seed GICC but the Lady Crusaders would come back to win the next three and take the match 3-1. The scores went 25-27, 25-18, 25-21, 25-17. Gothenburg was led by Clara Evert who had 17 kills in the match. GICC had three players finish in double figures in kills. Gracie Woods led the way with 16, Lucy Ghiafan had 14, and Chloe Cloud had 12 kills and 5 blocks. GICC advances to the semifinals on Friday where they will play Lincoln Lutheran. Lutheran defeated Bishop Neumann of Wahoo in straight sets 25-20, 25-12, 25-15. The other C1 semifinal on Friday will feature Kearney Catholic vs Columbus Lakeview. The top seed Kearney Catholic swept Pierce (25-19, 25-16, 25-17) and Columbus Lakeview defeated Syracuse in straight sets (25-17, 25-13, 25-21).
In Class B, the opening round matches all ended in straight set sweeps. Top seed Norris defeated Adams Central and will face Elkhorn North in the semifinals as Elkhorn North knocked off York in the opening round. Omaha Skutt defeated Omaha Duchesne and Waverly defeated Northwest of Grand Island on the other side of the bracket.
The top 2 seeds cruised to the semifinals in Class A. Top seed Papillion LaVista South defeated Fremont 25-14, 25-10, 25-22 and #2 seed Millard West defeated Papillion LaVista 25-23, 25-17, 25-11. LaVista South will play Elkhorn South in the semifinals and Millard West will play Omaha Westside. Elkhorn South and Omaha Westside both survived 5 set matches to advance.
Opening round state tournament matches will be played in classes C2, D1, and D2 on Thursday. Anselmo-Merna will open play in the D2 tournament against the #2 seed Humphrey St. Francis. The match is scheduled for 9 a.m. at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln. The match will be broadcast on KBBN 95.3 FM and on kbbn.com. The winner will advance to the semifinals on Friday where they will play the winner of today’s Maywood Hayes Center vs Diller-Odell match. In the other half of the D2 bracket, top seed Falls City Sacred Heart will play Exeter Milligan and Stuart will play Wynot.
Class D1 opening round matches Thursday include Howells-Dodge vs BDS (Bruning Davenport Shickley), Mead vs Elmwood Murdock, Nebraska Christian vs Overton, and Bergan vs Cambridge.
Class C2 opening round matches will include Oakland-Craig vs Hastings St. Cecilia, Superior vs Amherst, Wisner-Pilger vs Norfolk Catholic, and Clarkson/Leigh vs Sutton.
