Click to view story on Omaha World-Herald.

Prior to this season, an Omaha Public Schools team had never won a match at the state volleyball tournament.

Omaha Burke outside hitter Nicole Walker helped change that, leading the Class A runner-up Bulldogs to a 32-7 record and two tourney wins. That performance capped her senior year at Burke and landed her a spot on this year's All-Metro Conference squad.

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.

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

Click to view story in Grand Island Independent.

Grand Island Senior High volleyball coach Bill Root said all season the Islanders play well under stress.
The Class A, District 3 tournament final was the perfect example.

The No. 5-rated Islanders weren't having things go their way in the first three sets in falling behind 2-1 to Millard West. But Grand Island found a way to rally capture the district title with a thrilling 27-29, 25-23, 17-25, 25-15, 15-11 win at GISH Wednesday.

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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.

Sub-districts are officially one week away in the smaller classifications and that means that it is time for conference tournament and final late-season rivalries to finish up and for teams to get ready for postseason play. Below are the updated NebVolleyball.com/Jones Insurance Agency, Inc. rankings for Oct. 24.

Class A
(Ranking, Team, Record, Last Week’s ranking)
1. Papillion-LaVista South (30-0) 1
2. Omaha Marian (24-7) 3
3. Omaha Burke (24-5) 2
4. Lincoln Southwest (26-5) 5
5. Grand Island (25-5) 4
6. Omaha Westside (15-14) 6
7. Bellevue East (24-8) 7
8. Papillion-LaVista (14-17) 8
9. Millard West (12-13) 10
10. Lincoln North Star (14-13)

Contenders: Lincoln Northeast, Omaha Benson, Kearney, Bellevue West

Papillion-LaVista South was pushed to the brink of its first loss against St. James Academy in Lenexa, Kan. but survived. Columbus Scotus in C1 also was pushed but remained unbeaten. Lutheran High Northeast in C2 wasn't so lucky as Guardina Angels took down C2's last unbeaten. Paxton and Hitchcock County still are perfect in D1 but could face each other at the conference tournament. Check out all the new NebVolleyball/Jones Insurance Agency, Inc. Rankings for each classification.

Class A
(Ranking, Team, Record, Last Week's ranking)
1. Papillion-LaVista South (25-0) 1
2. Bellevue East (20-5) 4
3. Omaha Burke (23-4) 2
4. Omaha Marian (17-7) 5
5. Grand Island (19-4) 3
6. Lincoln Southwest (18-4) 6
7. Papillion-LaVista (13-10) 7
8. Omaha Westside (11-11) 8
9. Lincoln Northeast (16-11) 9
10. Millard West (9-12) 10

Contenders: Omaha Benson, Kearney, Bellevue West, Fremont, Lincoln North Star

The third week of the season has come and gone. There were some more shake ups among some of the top teams in the lower classifications while most of the larger schools remained relatively unchanged in the Sept. 19 NebVolleyball/Jones Insurance Agency, Inc. Rankings for each classification.

Class A
(Ranking, Team, Record, Last Week's ranking)
1. Papillion-LaVista South (9-0) 1
2. Omaha Burke (13-2) 2
3. Omaha Marian (10-4) 3
4. Grand Island (14-1) 5
5. Lincoln Southwest (14-2) 4
6. Bellevue East (11-3) 6
7. Papillion-LaVista (6-6) 7
8. Lincoln Northeast (9-6) NR
9. Omaha Benson (12-2) 10
10. Bellevue West (10-9) NR

Contenders: Millard West, Omaha Westside, Millard North, Kearney, Lincoln North Star

Click to view story on Lincoln Journal Star.

It was two Class A rated volleyball teams, neither of which were defending state champion Papillion-La Vista South. So, naturally, No. 10 Millard West's match at No. 4 Lincoln Southwest on Monday night went the distance.

The Silver Hawks battled back from a 2-1 deficit in sets to post a 15-25, 25-21, 17-25, 25-12, 15-10 win, a close, competitive matchup much like the other top 10 battles in the first two weeks of the season.

There were many big matches during the second week of the high school season that have shook up some of the NebVolleyball/Jones Insurance Agency, Inc. Rankings for each classification.

Class A
(Ranking, Team, Record, Last Week's ranking)
1. Papillion-LaVista South (7-0) 1
2. Omaha Burke (12-1) 3
3. Omaha Marian (5-3) 2
4. Lincoln Southwest (6-1) 4
5. Grand Island (9-0) 7
6. Bellevue East (10-3) 5
7. Papillion-LaVista (4-3) 6
8. Millard West (6-5) 9
9. Lincoln North Star (6-5) 8
10. Omaha Benson (9-2) NR