After three straight years of falling in the first round of bracket play at the Bellevue West Invitational, Class B No. 4 Elkhorn North broke through on Saturday to win its first title at the prestigious tournament held annually during the first week of the high school volleyball season.
The Wolves went through Class A No. 3 Omaha Westside (2-0), Class B No. 5 Gretna (2-1) and Class A No. 1 Papillion-La Vista South (2-1) at the Bellevue West Thunderdome to earn the right to hoist the plaque.
“It feels amazing,” junior outside hitter Reagan Wallraff said. “We always come into this tournament and we don’t usually do very well, but I think beating Papio South two times is a really good accomplishment and I think that we all wanted it so bad, so it was just an amazing experience.”
Elkhorn North opened the season with a 3-0 win over Elkhorn on Thursday then dropped their first match of Bellevue West Invitational pool play on Friday, 2-0 to Gretna (25-18, 25-17). The Wolves bounced back quickly, however, sweeping Elkhorn South then beating reigning Class A champion Papillion-La Vista South 28-26, 17-25, 25-17 to earn their place in the championship bracket.
“We got a little punched yesterday against Gretna,” Elkhorn North coach Jenny Gragert said. “Credit goes to them; they played a fabulous game. But I think it was good to see their resilience and how they battled back last night and then came back today.”
They carried that momentum into Saturday — right through the championship match. The Wolves beat the Titans 25-19 24-25, 25-21.
Elkhorn North junior Reagan Wallraff takes a swing against Papillion-La Vista South in the Bellevue West Invitational championship. Photo by Christian Naujokaitis.
Wallraff, a Creighton commit, capped a big day with 12 kills and three blocks in the championship. She had 17 kills in the semifinal against Gretna and 21 — on .436 hitting — against Westside in the quarterfinal. Wallraff began her high school career as a middle blocker before moving to outside hitter last season, and she’s continuing to expand her skill set with the Wolves.
“She’s focusing on other parts of her game, like her blocking and her defense, which I’m really proud of, and serve receive and just being able to find different shots,” Gragert said. “She’s very comfortable hitting a cross-court ball, so getting her to find line and the four zone is really important for her.”
Wallraff put the Wolves ahead 10-4 early in set one with a strong serving run, and they maintained a healthy lead the whole way until sophomore Payton Palmer delivered the set-point kill.
The Titans turned the tables in the second yet, winning eight out of 10 rallies early in the game to take a 15-9 lead. They continued to open it up from there to earn the double-digit set win.
The third set was much tighter than the first two, featuring five or six ties early before Elkhorn North took control. The Wolves ripped off an 11-3 ending in an ace from Wallraff to take a 21-13 lead. The Titans didn’t go down easily, cutting the deficit down to three at 23-20, but Palmer stepped up again with kills on two of the last three rallies to close it out.
“I think we served more aggressively,” Gragert said of the third set. “That was, to me, the major difference, is we were trying to keep the ball away from their libero. [Kami Dyrstad] is just phenomenal at passing. So I think that our serving made a difference, and I think we shifted a little bit with our block, and maybe that was a difference too.”
Outside of Wallraff, Elkhorn North is young and inexperienced at the attacking positions. Palmer is second on the team in kills among returners after averaging 1.3 as a freshman. Now a sophomore, she stepped up late in the championship and also made some big plays in the last two sets of the semifinal. Junior Kaitlyn Huff made some timely kills as well, and Elkhorn North switched lineups at times to give senior setter Hayden Booth opportunities to hit with junior Millie Mauch setting.
“Reagan’s going to do her thing, but we have to get support staff for her that are going to make things happen,” Gragert said. “We were kind of doing some switching and stuff and getting the pressure off her sometimes and let others do their thing and make some points. That’s going to be really important; it’s only going to free Reagan up in the end.”
Junior middle blocker Lyric Judson was the standout for the Titans, totaling 12 kills on .455 hitting, four aces and two blocks. Dyrstad, a Rutgers commit, robbed Wallraff on several swings that likely would have found the floor against most other defenders. The Titans are 5-2, with both losses to the Wolves. Papio South swept Iowa visitor Western Christian (25-20, 25-8) and Class B No. 2 Skutt Catholic (25-13, 25-17) in their first two matches on Saturday.
The Wolves’ first match started at 9 a.m., and the they didn’t finish their last until after 5:30 p.m., making for a long but rewarding day.
“It feels good,” Gragert said. “It’s a grind. We’ve been here a long time and it’s been a long day, but it’s a grind and they were gritty. I was very proud of them … It shows us we’re resilient and we can win things, but also it’s going to put a little bit of a target on our backs and people are going to come after us, which is fine. We’re going to welcome that, and pressure is a privilege.”
After playing Papillion-La Vista South and Gretna twice each in a two-day span, the Wolves will face the Dragons again on Tuesday, and Wallraff said she’s looking forward to the rubber match.
Other Notes:
>> Skutt Catholic claimed third place, outlasting Gretna in a thriller that saw three deuce games: 28-26, 23-25, 25-23.
North Carolina commit Addison West was stellar for the SkyHawks, unofficially totaling 16 kills on .483 hitting and two aces. Seniors Kayelyn Liebentritt and Avery White finished with double-digit kills by my count as well while senior libero Marin Brummund made several highlight-reel plays throughout the day.
The SkyHawks went 2-1 in pool play, falling to Westside in three sets but beating Millard West and Millard South, then they beat the Patriots again 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
Sophomore Logann Dostal had a big day for the Dragons (16 kills against Skutt) and will be a player to watch moving forward. Fellow sophomore Koco Janssen is intriguing as well, alternating between taking swings as an opposite hitter and taking on setter duties along with senior Maggie Miller.
>> The semifinal clash between Papio South and Skutt was a rematch of the previous two Bellevue West Invitational championships. With the Titans advancing, at least one of those two programs has made the final in 15 of the last 17 years. Papillion-La Vista South has made it in 11 of the last 16 years.
>> Omaha Marian claimed fifth place, topping Millard South 27-25, 25-20 to end its run in the tournament. Omaha commit Taylor McLeay has led the Crusaders to a 6-1 start, with the quarterfinal loss to Gretna the only blemish so far.
