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WYNOT — The Wynot Lady Blue Devils grabbed a return ticket to Lincoln for the Class D2 Volleyball Championships Nov. 7-Nov.9 to try to improve on last season’s third-place season at the state gathering.
Although it is a repeat trip and the 12th overall for the Lady Blue Devil program, this group didn’t have a lot of experience on the court from last season.
In fact, Wynot graduated seven seniors from last fall’s team and faced the fact one of its returning players it intended to count on was lost to injury early in the season.
Gone were Myrah Sudbeck, Annika Heimes, Isabelle Heimes, Courtney Pinkelman, Kinslee Heimes, Kayla Pinkelman and Allison Wieseler lost to graduation and Addison Pinkelman went down with an injury this fall.
“We didn’t have a ton of experience returning but we knew what kind of kids they were,” Lady Blue Devil coach, Sidney Messersmith said. “These girls do not like to lose and they are not afraid of hard work and we thought with a little confidence and experience, we could get back down there.”
Add in the fact Messersmith and company returned their setter from last season, Sophi Geisen and her 742 set assists; and they returned Kenna Oligmueller who had 124 kills and 285 digs last year; and Eliza Lange who had some varsity experience and the Lady Blue Devils were set to start this year’s quest for Lincoln.
“We really leaned on those three early in the year for leadership,” Messersmith said. “Now, everyone had a season under their belts and they’ve developed their roles and ready to take on the challenge.”
Oligmueller has been the key weapon offensively for the Lady Blue Devils this season accumulating 333 winners thus far. She added 350 digs defensively, which was second on the team.
Joslyn Hochstein, starting varsity for the first time this season, hammered 160 kills, Lange added 139 and Jordan Foxhoven registered 128 and added 278 digs.
Sophie Geisen set up 747 assists this year and had 212 digs and 54 ace serves.
Jaylin Geisen led the defensive effort with 374 digs.
“We’re playing our best volleyball of the season right now, which is what you want to do,” the coach said. “We’ve put the pieces together, we have confidence, we need to go down there and go after it.”
Wynot is set to take on Overton in the opening round.
The Lady Eagles won a state title last season after finishing runner-up in 2022. But much like the Lady Blue Devils, they lost a lot to graduation.
Overton graduated five seniors from last year’s squad including the setter and four of the top hitters.
“Overton is a lot like us, they are aggressive defensively and from the service line and they are very scrappy,” Messersmith said. “They do have a couple of really good hitters we’ll have to be aware of all the time.”
Daisy Ryan returned from last year’s edition of the Lady Eagles and brought 258 kills with her from her sophomore campaign. Gracen Hughes also returns for her junior season after being a back up last fall.
Wynot and Overton are set for the opening round Nov. 7 at 9 a.m. on the South Court at Pinnacle Bank Arena in Lincoln with 21-9 and 27-5 records respectively.
