FREMONT - Coach Paul Giesselmann has released his 2012 recruiting class for Midland University’s 2012-13 volleyball squad. The Warriors, coming off a 20-win season and their first ever appearance in the GPAC Semifinals, will add an impressive list of 12 new names to next year’s roster, including 10 all-state achievers and nine all-conference athletes.

“We are really happy with our second recruiting class at Midland,”said Paul Giesselmann, Midland University volleyball head coach. “When you combine this class with last year’s group, I believe it sets Midland Volleyball up to be a competitive program for several years. The class has a great mix of a couple players who potentially could help us on the varsity immediately, several players that with a couple years of training will be very strong contributors for us, and a couple players that are going to be great role players that we can plug into several positions.”

Of the 12 athletes, 10 have led their high school volleyball teams to conference championships. Seven recruits hold school records and six have led their teams to top-8 or better state tournament finishes.

The East Husker Conference recently released its post season awards.

Final regular season standings were:

Wisner-Pilger 26-7, 9-0
North Bend 17-12, 7-2
West Point-Beemer 10-16, 7-2
Stanton 13-18, 6-3
Pender 14-17, 5-4
Scribner-Snyder 12-18, 3-6
Tekamah-Herman 12-18, 3-6
Oakland-Craig 6-26, 2-7
Logan View 3-26, 1-8
Lyons-Decatur 7-22, 1-8

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

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OAKLAND — Reaching the state volleyball tournament is becoming a habit for Omaha Concordia.

The Mustangs earned their second consecutive trip to state Friday night with a 25-16, 25-17, 26-24 win against Wisner-Pilger in the Class C1-3 district final at Oakland-Craig High School. The victory sends 23-6 Concordia to next week’s state tourney in Grand Island and ends the season for the 26-7 Gators.

C1-1 at Plattsmouth
Friday's final: Ashland-Greenwood def. Auburn 23-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-12, 15-11

C1-2 at Seward
Friday's final: Columbus Scotus def. Milford 25-18, 25-9, 25-13

C1-3 at Oakland-Craig
Friday's final: Concordia def. Wisner-Pilger 25-15, 25-17, 26-24

C1-1 at Plattsmouth
Friday's final: Ashland-Greenwood def. Auburn 23-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-12, 15-11

C1-2 at Seward
Friday's final: Columbus Scotus def. Milford 25-18, 25-9, 25-13

C1-3 at Oakland-Craig
Friday's final: Concordia def. Wisner-Pilger 25-15, 25-17, 26-24

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

Click to view story on Fremont Tribune.

WISNER - North Bend finished second Saturday at the East Husker Conference Volleyball Tournament.
Wisner-Pilger defeated the Tigers 26-24, 25-22, 25-14 in the finals.

Alexis Allgood and Amy Baumert had nine kills apiece for the Tigers. Mallory Hull had five kills while Sammy Dirkschneider had four kills and two ace serves.

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