Nebraska crowned its six high school volleyball state champions on Saturday as the Devaney Center hosted the 2025 NSAA State Championships.
Stay tuned for rolling updates throughout the day here. You can also check out the NEBPreps social pages for more content, and you can find previous coverage of the state tournament here and here.
CLASS D2
No. 1 Wynot 3, No. 3 Cambridge 2 (19-25, 25-21, 16-25, 25-17, 15-5)
Why not Wynot?
The top-seeded Blue Devils rallied from a 2-1 deficit to knock off the Trojans in five, capturing the program’s first volleyball state championship.
Senior outside hitter Kenna Oligmueller led the way for the Blue Devils all season and put an exclamation point on her career with the title.
“It means so much,” Oligmueller said. “We knew that we had the potential this year to be good. We came down here and we made a deep run, and we knew that we could do that, and to do it with this team, it’s so special to make history in Wynot. It feels so awesome.”
In the fifth set, Cambridge took it to the Blue Devils, opening with two kills and an ace. Wynot coach Tristan Wieseler called a timeout to settle his team down and deliver a message.
“I kind of just reiterated that we’ve been in that situation, tried to calm nerves a little there, and just challenge them to leave it all on the court … I challenged them to pass a little bit better, and we got a sideout and we were able to go on a run after that.”
Consider the challenge accepted. The Blue Devils ripped off eight straight points out of the stoppage with senior libero Jaylin Geisen serving. Cambridge halted the run with a kill, but Wynot fired right back with a 5-0 spurt including three kills from Oligmueller and an ace from senior setter Haley Wieseler.
Following the combined 13-1 run, the Blue Devils traded sideouts for the final few rallies to secure victory, with their fellow students rushing the court to celebrate with their classmates after the final whistle.
Oligmueller finished with a match-high 25 kills on .293 hitting plus nine digs, a block and an ace. She struggled a bit in the second and third sets but came alive in the fourth and dominated the fifth. The senior took all but two of Wynot’s attacks and accounted for all nine kills in the final frame as the team hit .500 and didn’t record an error.
“We knew that it was now or never, so we went out there in that fifth set and we said, ‘They’re going to come firing at us, but we just have to fire right back,’” Oligmueller said. “I knew that somebody had to pick it up for the team and get a few kills to get us going in that fifth set, and I think I did that. I told my setter, I said ‘Keep feeding me; they’re giving me the line.’”
“And she took the line,” Tristan Wieseler added. “She took every bit of that line.”
Senior Jordan Foxhoven led the defensive effort with 31 digs while Geisen added 26 digs and a .971 reception percentage. Freshman middle blocker Mya Pinkelman chipped in 11 kills on .259 hitting and three blocks. Haley Wieseler racked up 42 assists, eight digs and eight blocks as the Blue Devils out-blocked the Trojans 11.0 to 3.0 after some minor blocking adjustments mid-game, according to Wieseler.
A pair of do-it-all Cambridge athletes recorded triple-doubles in the match after doing so in the semifinals as well. Junior Brooklyn Holtze finished with 22 kills, 21 assists and 15 digs while senior Mallory Springer added 21 kills, 26 assists and 21 digs. Junior middle blocker Joslyn Holtze added 16 kills and nine digs for the runner-up Trojans.
Cambridge head coach Lauren Carpenter was back on the bench for the championship match after giving birth on Tuesday. Assistant coach Rami Albers stepped in for Cambridge’s quarterfinal and semifinal wins to give Carpenter time to recover, but she was determined to be there for her team on Saturday and awarded them their silver medals after the match.
“Our motto is, ‘Win three sets by two points.’ That’s all that really matters. They just rode the wave.”
Wynot coach @twieselerrrr talks after the Blue Devils’ five-set win to claim its first state title in volleyball. #nebpreps | @pinnbank pic.twitter.com/pP42D5qpFg
— nebpreps (@THEnebpreps) November 8, 2025
CLASS D1
No. 1 Amherst 3, No. 2 Overton 2 (20-25, 17-25, 25-11, 26-24, 15-11)
“F-K-C!” chants rang out from the Amherst student section after Saturday’s D1 state championship.
The chant was referring to the Fort Kearny Conference, which produced both D1 finalists. The fourth meeting of the season between Amherst and Overton turned into an instant classic with the Broncos pulling off a reverse sweep to earn their first volleyball state championship.
The win secured a 4-0 season sweep for the Broncos.
“It’s tough to play a team that many times and have this kind of record against them, especially Overton,” Amherst coach Jonie Fader said. “They’re seasoned, they’re well coached, they don’t make a lot of mistakes. Being down 0-2, we just thought, ‘Let’s challenge the kids to play from the heart and play from the intellectual part of the game.’
“So we challenged them with that; we’ve been working on that all year long, and just as a coach, it’s so rewarding to see them apprehend their training and take personal possession of that and then just go get their win.”
Overton controlled the action in the first two sets, recording 11 more kills en route to a 2-0 lead. The third set was tight early with five ties in the first 14 rallies, but Mackenzie Cochran, the only senior on the Amherst roster, serve an 8-0 run to blow the game open and turn it into a rout.
“Volleyball is a game of failures with the ups and downs,” Fader said. “We just believe in them enough to say, ‘Go for it, girls.’ Just reminding them how they want to feel, what emotion do they want to have, and just letting them own that. We believe in them so much. They’re a phenomenal group of kids.”
Junior opposite Libby Mitchell sparked the turnaround with six of her team-high 19 kills in the third set — without an attack error. The junior added six block assists on the day to finish with 22 points.
“I just kind of stopped and I took a deep breathe, and I knew, ‘Leave it all on the court right here,’” Mitchell said. “I knew I didn’t want to leave this game with any regrets, because it would bite me forever. I was like, ‘It’s now or never; I’ve got nothing to lose, I’m just going to go out and swing, trust my teammates, do it for them, because we want this so bad.’”
Overton didn’t let Amherst run away with the fourth set in the same way as the third, rallying from a deficit to make it a deuce game. The Eagles earned two set points at 24-22, but a kill from junior Sadie Van Ranken triggered a 4-0 finish to the set for Amherst to force a fifth.
“I think overall, it was just how bad we all wanted to win it, and we came into this game knowing we will do whatever it takes,” Mitchell said. “That’s what turned the corner in that fourth set.”
The fifth set was close early, but the Broncos gradually pulled away, building a big enough lead to weather a late comeback attempt and slamming the door shut with a match-point block from Van Ranken and Cochran. The head coach said she saw a notable uptick in the team’s energy on the court in the final set.
“We talk a lot about, as women, our voices have power,” Fader said. “We needed to raise our level of communication, which raises the level of energy …. From my standpoint, that’s a huge part of what did that.”
Amherst had a big edge in blocks (11.5 to 4.0) and aces (seven to one). A big part of that was the play of junior libero Brecken Veskerna. She recorded 29 digs and two aces while receiving 53 of Overton’s 92 serves with only one reception error (a .981 percentage).
“Brecken is impressive,” Fader said. “She’s impressive. We make it look like it’s a three-person serve receive, but oftentimes it’s a one-person serve receive because we know that Brecken has really stepped up her game this year. She reads well and she’s a pursuer libero. That’s why we have her in middle back, because she is relentless with pursuit.”
Sophomore Addy Simmons added a triple-double for the Broncos with 26 digs, 11 assists and 10 kills while Van Ranken finished with 12 kills and five blocks.
Daisy Ryan led the runner-up Eagles with 23 kills and 20 digs while Gracen Hughes added 20 kills.
“We want it all over again. This was so much fun, and I know we want to do it all over again.”
Amherst freshman Brooke Bosshamer had seven kills, nine digs, and six blocks in the Broncos’ reverse-sweep of Overton for the Class D1 title. #nebpreps | @pinnbank pic.twitter.com/erEr3abOZo
— nebpreps (@THEnebpreps) November 8, 2025
CLASS C2
No. 4 Freeman 3, No. 6 Laurel-Concord-Coleridge 1 (25-23, 16-25, 25-18, 29-27)
The Freeman Falcons pulled out two deuce games, including one in extras, to secure a four-set victory and claim the program’s first state championship since 2014 (and fourth overall).
“I’m so proud of how they played,” Freeman coach Lexi Holland said. “They really showed grit, especially in that fourth set. We knew it was going to be a battle. A state title game is always going to be challenging; they’re not just going to give it to you, you’re going to get the team’s best game, and LCC gave us their best game. I think our girls really battled and they didn’t let down.”
The Falcons closed out the first set with a 3-0 run ending in an ace from junior Shiloh Wallman to win it by two. LCC countered by winning big in the second to tie the match up, hitting .438 with 16 kills in the set.
Freeman returned the favor in the third, using a 5-0 run to create separation midway through and remaining in control the rest of the way on the strength of its defense. The Bears hit minus-.027 and nearly contributed as many points to Freeman’s total as the Falcons did themselves.
The fourth set saw some wild swings with 14 ties and seven lead changes. After leading by four at 13-9, the Falcons fell behind by three at 19-16. Freeman didn’t crumble, however, as one of the team’s two seniors, Alicia Johansen, stepped up to lead them back. She put down five kills in a nine-rally span to tie it up at 22-all then served back-to-back aces to give her team match point.
LCC countered with a 3-0 run to jump in front but couldn’t finish it off. Freeman earned two more match point opportunities without success before finally taking advantage with back-to-back kills to close it out.
“I think we reset by knowing we were in the driver’s seat that third set and no matter what happened, we were playing another set,” Holland said of her team’s resiliency in the fourth. “It wasn’t a lose situation, so we just reminded them stay calm, play our game, keep running the fast ball and you’ll be fine.”
Johansen finished with a match-high 19 kills on .417 hitting, 14 digs, three blocks and three aces. She also delivered the final kill to seal a state championship victory on her final swing as a Falcon.
“It was so surreal,” Johansen said. “I was just happy it went down, honestly. That was a close fourth set, and just to have that moment with all my teammates behind my back — I don’t remember who passed that ball, but whoever passed, it had to be a dime and Aniston [Bartunek] set up a dime for me. If those two things didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have put it down. My teammates trust me to put the ball down, so I know when Aniston gives me the ball, I can do it.”
Bartunek, a sophomore, racked up 42 assists and 23 digs. Reagan Rinne, a junior, added 13 kills on .263 hitting and 13 digs.
Holland was a player on the last Freeman team that won a state championship, and now she’s experienced that success from the bench as well.
“Honestly, it’s the same [feeling],” Holland said. “When the ball hits the ground, your emotions just run out of you and you just want to cry. Maybe it’s a girl thing. I am so happy for them. I’m grateful that they trusted me to put them in positions and put them in spots where they can be successful. The feeling’s great, no matter what. Do I wish I could play? Yeah. But this is just as good.”
Holland had every reason to let the tears flow. She lost her father, Dave Holland, unexpectedly at 56 years old in July of 2024. The Falcons lost in the first round of the state tournament a year ago, and her father was on her mind as her team finished the job this season.
“My dad was the biggest Freeman volleyball fan, and I live every day of my life just trying to make him proud,” Holland told NEBPreps. “I know he has the best seat in the house and he’s screaming from the heavens. He’s so proud of these girls. He watched them when they were freshmen, supported them all the way through and I know he is so proud of me.”
“The feeling’s the same. Once you get that final point, all the emotions just come out.”
It was a full circle moment today for head coach Lexi Holland after winning the Class C2 title as a player in 2014 and now as the Freeman coach. #nebpreps | @pinnbank pic.twitter.com/0wStvpPsHP
— nebpreps (@THEnebpreps) November 8, 2025
CLASS C1
No. 1 Milford 3, No. 8 Holdrege 1 (25-13, 16-25, 25-15, 25-19)
After falling in the first round of the state tournament a year ago, Milford returned to finish the job this season.
The Eagles went 33-1 overall and took down the upstart Dusters in four sets to hoist the Class C1 trophy for the first time.
“I knew Holdrege would come out strong,” Milford coach Emily Restau said. “We usually see the best of every opponent that we have, being that top seed and them being the underdogs and having an amazing state tournament. We just knew we were going to get the best from them.”
This week was Milford’s fourth state tournament appearance and its first state title, something its five seniors will remember forever.
“I’ve been playing with Kylie [Jakub] and the rest of our seniors since we were in third grade,” said Sydney Burkey, a senior who finished with eight kills, five digs and four blocks. “Just looking at some previous people like Hannah Kepler and girls like that, it has always been a dream for us, and to finally get it done, it’s pretty awesome.”
The moment was meaningful in a different way for the Eagles’ star sophomore, Shayla Rautenberg. Her mother, Lisa Reitsma, is a Nebraska athletics Hall of Fame inductee. Although she spent her playing days at the Coliseum, Reitsma’s name is on the walls and she helped hang some of the banners in the Devaney Center.
“It’s so special,” Rautenberg said. “The environment is unreal. We have so many fans here supporting us. It was just a crazy day.”
The 6-foot-3 middle is one of the most productive and efficient players in the class, though she didn’t play up to her own standards in Milford’s semifinal sweep of Malcolm. She hit .154 to get her 15 kills. Restau said she wasn’t happy with her performance and used that to fuel herself on Saturday.
It was effective. Rautenberg racked up 30 kills on .407 hitting, 17 digs, four aces and four blocks.
“Obviously, her skills have improved tremendously even from her freshman year, but the bigger part to her is her mental game and then just the trust of everybody around her,” Restau said. “Her understanding that there were matches throughout the year that she didn’t get very many sets because we were able to spread the offense and so many teams just dial in on her. I think that’s the beauty of our team is that we just have so many options. Yes, we can go to Shayla, but there are people around her, and in big moments, Shayla shines.”
Milford rolled through the first set, but the surprise of the tournament responded in kind in set two, winning it 25-16. Restau said the Eagles struggled to pass and close their blocks, allowing the Dusters to steal the momentum.
Milford bounced back in the third set in a big way, however, winning it by 10 while hitting .444 with just one attack error.
“These girls, next-set mentality, next-play mentality,” Restau said. “We’ve been down before. We got absolutely creamed by Kearney Catholic in a set and that just helped them in the long run, in the state tournament. It’s ‘OK, it’s 0-0 and we’re going to control our side of the court and do what we can and adjust to what they’re going to do.’”
Holdrege kept it close for a while in game four, but Milford used a 6-1 run midway through to take control and cruised to the finish.
Holdrege’s magical run as a No. 8 seed came up just a bit short, but senior Emily Stutzman went down swinging with 17 kills, 10 digs and two blocks. Fellow senior Carson Sundquist added 21 digs, 13 kills and two blocks. The Dusters went from a 3-seed in their subdistrict to state runner-up in their first tournament appearance since 2007.
CLASS B
No. 1 Norris 3, No. 2 Elkhorn North 1 (25-22, 25-23, 27-25, 25-12)
Norris coach Christine Boesiger sent her daughter, Malorie, a picture of the two of them sharing an embrace on the court after the Titans captured the Class B state championship. Malorie was in street clothes at the time; an injury sidelined her for the entire season.
On Saturday, the Boesigers recreated the moment after the Titans beat Elkhorn North in four sets to repeat as Class B state champions. This time, Malorie was in uniform.
“We were telling each other we were going to do it again this year with her on the court. To actually accomplish that too — she was a big part of it last year, she helped train our setters, but to have her out there, it’s just awesome.”
Norris junior Malorie Boesiger had to sit out all of last season but came back and won the Titans a second consecutive title. Boesiger shared a moment with her parents, Christina and Chris, who are on the coaching staff.
#nebpreps | @pinnbank pic.twitter.com/YqAAM5cHph— Hurrdat Sports (@HurrdatSports) November 9, 2025
After watching from the bench last year, the junior finally had the chance to play in the building she’ll call home in college as a Nebraska commit. She put up 48 assists, nine digs, four kills on .333 hitting, three blocks and two aces.
She also received a pleasant surprise during the match. Her older sister Maisie is a senior on the No. 1 Nebraska volleyball team, which had a match at No. 22 Minnesota set for 2:30 p.m. CT on Saturday. Big sister assumed she was going to miss the title match, but with the Huskers sweeping the Golden Gophers and the Class B match pushed back two hours by earlier finals going long, the Huskers made it back to Lincoln while the match was still going on.
Fresh off the plane, Maisie and several of her teammates made a stop in John Cook Arena, joining the Norris student section to cheer on the future Husker.
“It was really cool,” Malorie said. “She was texting me the whole day and she was really sad that she was going to miss the game. When they showed up, it was really cool.”
Coach Boesiger led the Titans to back-to-back state championships in 2013 and 2014, and now, a decade later, she’s done it again as Norris finished 38-1 on the season.
“It’s amazing,” Christina said. “It’s hard to put into words. It was our goal, but now we just did it, we accomplished it. Our Norris community is amazing; they are a huge part of that as well. When these girls were playing, I kept reminding them, ‘Look around you, look at how many people are here supporting you and loving you.’ So I don’t feel like it was just for the volleyball program, it is truly for the Norris community and it is just such a special place. These girls are great role models and good examples, I feel like, in our community, so they deserve all the love that they get from people.”
Five of the eight teams in the Class B field hailed from the Eastern Midlands Conference, including Norris and its opponents in the semifinals (Waverly) and final (Elkhorn North). The Titans only dropped one set in Lincoln, though the championship match was perhaps closer than a 3-1 result may indicate.
“We knew it was going to be a battle,” Christina said. “Class B is great this year. The EMC conference is absolutely amazing; I am so blessed and lucky we are a part of it because that’s what we see every day. What a great game. We knew it was going to be hard and tough, but just to stay disciplined and I couldn’t be more proud of these girls for setting a goal early in the season and just working hard every day to reach that goal.”
The first two sets included 14 ties and six lead changes, but Norris made plays down the stretch to win them both. The third set had 12 ties and seven lead changes by itself, and the Titans staved off two set points and earned a match-point opportunity with a 3-0 run, but Elkhorn North star Reagan Wallraff turned it around with back-to-back kills and the Titans misfired on the next point to send it to a fourth set,
Coach Boesiger’s emphasis after the third set and throughout the fourth was on locking back in (after their first set loss of the tournament) to finish the job, and that’s exactly what they did. Norris jumped out to a 5-1 lean then Malorie Boesiger served a 10-0 run including a pair of aces to turn the game into a rout. The Titans had 17 kills on 25 errorless swings in the game to hit .680.
“We kind of made that the emphasis of the timeout, like ‘You’ve won nothing yet, so just one point at a time and keep building,’” Christina said. “When Mal went on that huge serving run, I could see the look in their eyes, kind of like the look I felt last year in the fifth set from the girls on the court … I was really confident, and I think they felt it too.”
Not only did Saturday’s win cap the season with a title, it avenged their only loss of the season. The Wolves swept the Titans at Elkhorn North on Oct. 14, an impressive feat as the Titans had only dropped six sets all season to that point. Wallraff, the junior committed to Creighton, had 23 kills in the win.
An effort to better contain Wallraff was among the adjustments the Titans made from the previous meeting. That part wasn’t terribly successful as she racked up 30 kills on .269 hitting and 14 digs, though other points of emphasis made an impact.
“She’s so phenomenal, she’s such a great player,” Coach Boesiger said of Wallraff. “We knew she was going to get kills on us, but we really just tried to work more on our side and get in system and just have more options offensively. When we played up there, we were out of system quite a bit and pretty predictable. We tried to make that a good emphasis, first-ball contact, and then we have lots of hitters that we can use when the pass is there to do that. And then just relentless defense carried over from last night, knowing we’re going to have to be scrappy and dig a lot of balls and be OK with Reagan getting her kills and just worrying about ourselves.”
Wallraff finished the tournament with 94 kills across 12 sets, averaging 7.83 per set. However, on Saturday, the Titans had their own prolific weapon in junior Alli Bornschlegl who matched Wallraff with 30 kills of her own on better efficiency (.329 hitting) plus 13 digs.
“She’s done it all season long,” Christina Boesiger said. “She has just been phenomenal all season long, has carried us in big moments and has really transitioned last year from a three-rotation front row to a six-rotation outside hitter and is just as lethal in the back row as the front row. We’ve leaned on her a lot this year, and not just her athletic ability, but she brings a lot of smiles and positive energy to the team … Everyone needs an Alli on their team.”
The performance bested her previous career high of 29 as the South Dakota State commit accounted for nearly half of Norris’ attacks (70 out of 150). Bornschlegl credit her setter for finding ways to feed her.
“I feel like Elkhorn North was kind of keyed in on me a little bit, but I feel like Malorie helps me around that because Malorie can get it to me from anywhere, and I feel like that’s really special,” Bornschlegl said. “We have a bond even off the court as much as on the court that makes the connection 10 times better. And if I can’t get it done, she can find someone that can get it done.”
The service line played a big part in the match as the Titnas totaled nine aces to only one for the Wolves. Six different players recorded at least one ace, with half of them serving two.
“Our gym is just a really upbeat, positive atmosphere. I think it makes you love the game.”
Norris coach Christina Boesiger talks after the Titans’ finished its quest for back-to-back Class B championships. #nebpreps | @pinnbank pic.twitter.com/wdlwSn9uyc
— nebpreps (@THEnebpreps) November 9, 2025
CLASS A
No. 3 Papillion-La Vista South 3, No. 1 Lincoln North Star 0 (25-11, 25-22, 25-15)
The Titan dynasty continues as Papillion-La Vista South won its second straight Class A title and its fifth in the past seven years, doing so in impressive fashion.
“One of our best matches of the season, for sure; it was a dominating display, I would say,” Papio South coach Katie Tarman said. “I’m very, very proud of them. They put everything that we’ve been working on together tonight, and they weren’t going to let anything get in their way.”
The Titans have played in six of the past seven Class A state championships, with their six seniors part of the program for three of them. Saturday was the first-ever championship appearance for the Navigators, and it showed early as the Titans raced out to a 10-2 lead in the first set, turning it into a rout.
“Experience always plays a big part, and it’s something we talk about a lot, is trusting our training, but also trusting the experiences we’ve had here in the past and just the program that it has built,” Tarman said. “I feel like they’ve learned how to do things the right way, and that pays off in the end.”
The Gators reset and made the Titans earn it in set two with four lead changes and eight ties, the last at 17-all. However, Papio South put together a 7-3 run to earn set point, and junior Kambria Bails finished it off a few points later with a kill.
In game three, Papio South ripped off an 11-2 run to take control, including a 7-0 stint with senior Dani Vallinch serving. The Titans finished with 11 aces in the match, and Vallinch had five of them.
“She’s just so important to our team,” senior libero Kami Dyrstad said. “Obviously, she has a great serve. We see that in practice every day, and now everyone else got to see how awesome it was.”
Bails led the Titans with 12 kills on .500 hitting. After showing great promise in an important role as a freshman, the 5-foot-9 outside hitter missed much of her sophomore season with a knee injury, including the championship match. She finished fourth on the team in kills this season but stepped up on the biggest stage on Saturday.
“I think it’s just been really good for her,” fellow junior Lyric Judson said. “Maybe this season hasn’t been what exactly she was envisioning, but she took it, she ran with it, she tried her very hardest. She took so much feedback, and I think she really applied it tonight, and just showed everyone what she was capable of, and I just love that for her.”
Judson, a Florida Gulf Coast commit, added 10 kills on .562 hitting, five blocks (three solo), five digs and two aces as Papio South hit .312 as a team. Dyrstad led the defensive effort with 12 digs, two aces and a perfect day in serve receive as the Titans held the Gators to .106 hitting.
The Titans didn’t finish with a gaudy record this season at 31-9, but they didn’t drop a match (and only dropped four sets) to Class competition all year. Their losses came to Class B runner-up Elkhorn North (twice, though they won the third meeting late in the season), perennial Class B power Skutt Catholic and six teams from outside of Nebraska as the Titans tested themselves with travel tournaments and the toughest in-state competition. Tarman said the Titans want to play the best, and it paid off on Saturday.
“It’s the culmination, it’s the greatest thing, and the way that they did it tonight — it’s one thing to win a match,” Tarman said. “It’s another thing to win a match the way we want to win it, and these girls did that, and they did it together. Every single person on this squad just puts everything into it, and they know their value on this team, and it’s just really special to do it like that.”
“It’s definitely been more challenging for us, which is exactly what we needed.”
Lyric Judson finished with 10 kills, five digs, and five blocks to lead Papillion-La Vista South to back-to-back Class A titles. #nebpreps | @pinnbank pic.twitter.com/g3sOV6Y5Lz
— nebpreps (@THEnebpreps) November 9, 2025
