Courtesy Photo Melissa Peterson is the new head volleyball coach at Kearney High.

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KEARNEY - Melissa Petersen has been promoted to head coach of the Kearney High volleyball program.

“I’m really excited because I’ve been involved in Kearney High volleyball the last 10 years, as a player and watching my sister and last year as a coach … and I’m excited with the direction the program has been going the past couple years,” Petersen said. “I hope to continue to improve Kearney High volleyball from the younger level all the way up to the varsity level.”

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KEARNEY - After four seasons, Kearney volleyball coach Jason Owens has decided to step away from volleyball.

Owens made the decision last summer after becoming engaged in July. He's going to move to Grand Island, but still teach in Kearney. However, he felt the longer commute would make coaching volleyball difficult.

The Nebraska Coaches Association has finalized the rosters for the 2012 NCA All-Star Volleyball team.

The 29th annual all-star volleyball match will be played on Tuesday, July 24, at Lincoln North Star High School beginning at 7:00 p.m.

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Darren Ivy/NebVolleyball Iowa State's Tenisha Matlock makes a dig at the UNK Spring Volleyball Tournament while fellow Nebraskans Kelsey Petersen (8), Jamie Straube (14), Caitlin Mahoney (7) and Carley Jenson (1) look on.

When the NCAA Div. I Volleyball Tournament gets underway on Thursday and Friday across the country, the state of Nebraska will be well represented on the rosters of the teams that made it.

The home-state University of Nebraska-Lincoln volleyball team boasts eight Nebraska natives on its roster, but there are also at least 14 other native Nebraskans on other team's rosters that made the tournament.

Of these 22 Division I players, they hail for 20 different Nebraska high schools.

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KEARNEY — Katie Higgins has always had the physical tools to be a good volleyball player.

So when the Kearney junior started to develop the mental side of her game, great things started to happen.

Class A
(Ranking, Team, Record, Last Week’s ranking)
1. Papillion-LaVista South (41-0) 1
2. Omaha Marian (34-8) 2
3. Omaha Burke (32-7) 3
4. Lincoln Southwest (29-6) 4
5. Bellevue East (30-10) 6
6. Lincoln Northeast (22-17) NR
7. Grand Island (29-6) 5
8. Papillion-LaVista (17-20) 8
9. Millard West (17-17) 9
10. Omaha Westside (18-17) 7

Contenders: Lincoln North Star, Omaha Benson, Kearney

KEARNEY — Three high school seniors have announced plans to play volleyball for the University of Nebraska at Kearney next fall, UNK coach Rick Squiers said.

The newcomers are middle hitter Kalei Fertig from Kearney High, setter Erin Seele from Roosevelt High School in Johnstown, Colo.; and outside hitter Mari Jo “MJ” Massanet from Manhattan High School in Manhattan, Kan.

“We’re pleased with our 2012 signees. Each will bring a unique blend of skills and talents to Loper volleyball. And, in addition to fulfilling several positional needs for our program, I’m most excited about the quality of people we have joining us next fall,” Squiers said.

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OMAHA - Class A No. 3-rated Omaha Burke ended the Kearney volleyball team's season with a 25-13, 25-13, 25-21 win in the Class A-4 District championship match Wednesday in Omaha.
Kearney ended its season with a 20-14 record. The 20 wins were one win shy of tying a school record.

"I'm really happy with how we did, and I think the kids really surprised some of the naysayers who all summer we're saying we weren't going to get 10 wins or weren't going to get eight wins," Kearney coach Jason Owens said. "We're disappointed we didn't get to that 21-, 22-win mark, but we're elated with the way we played to get to the 20-win mark by the end of the season."

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OMAHA - Omaha Burke made good on one of its biggest volleyball goals of the season Wednesday night, qualifying for the state tournament.

The host Bulldogs will head back to state for the third consecutive year after defeating Kearney 25-13, 25-13, 25-21 in the District A-4 final. Third-ranked Burke boosted its record to 30-6 while the unranked Bearcats finish 20-14.

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COLUMBUS — The Discoverers finally have some momentum going for them.

The Columbus High volleyball team swept Kearney Tuesday at the CHS gym, posting a season-high in consecutive wins and evening its record at 13-13 in the process. The Discoverers downed the Bearcats 25-12, 25-18, 25-20 to win their third straight match after beating Millard North and Hastings last week.