CLASS D-1: Amherst rallies past conference rival Overton to win first championship
By Tony Chapman and Chris Basnett – For the Nebraska School Activities Association
The first state championship in school history was going to take some work. Maybe a little more work than Amherst was hoping.
But the Broncos were fine with working overtime Saturday, overcoming a 2-0 deficit and fighting off two match points in the fourth set to beat Overton 20-25, 17-25, 25-11, 26-24, 15-11 to win the Class D-1 state championship.
“Let’s challenge the kids to play from the heart,” Amherst coach Jonie Fader said of her message to her team after falling behind two sets to none.
“What kind of feeling did they want to have at the end of the day, and really giving them full possession of that piece of it… Just let them know that we believe in them so much. They’re a phenomenal group of kids. And they did it.”
Junior Libby Mitchell had 19 kills and three blocks for Amherst (28-5), including 10 kills in the third set Amherst won 25-11 to stay alive.
“I just kind of stopped, and I took a deep breath, and I just knew to leave it all on the court right here, because I knew I didn’t want to leave this game with any regrets, because it would bite me forever,” Mitchell said. “I’ve got nothing to lose; I’m just going to go out and swing, trust my teammates and do it for them, because we want this so bad.”
The championship was the first for Amherst in any girls sport in the history of a school with a rich athletic tradition. That it came against a Fort Kearny conference opponent, one the Broncos had already beaten three times this season, made the accomplishment even sweeter.
“It’s not something we necessarily talked about, but we were aware of it,” said junior Sadie Van Ranken, who finished with 12 kills.
The team’s only senior, Mackenzie Cochran was a sophomore on the Amherst team that lost to another Fort Kearny Conference squad, S-E-M, in the 2023 D-1 championship game.
“We knew the feeling of losing, and did not want to feel it again,” Cochrane said.
Then her teammate chimed in.
“We let the pain of loss drive us to the joy we feel today,” Mitchell said.
Overton dominated the first two sets to the point that seniors Daisy Ryan and Gracen Hughes had combined for 19 kills while Amherst had 18 as a team.
And leading 24-22 in the fourth set, it looked like the Eagles would add a second championship to go with their 2023 Class D-2 title.
But a Van Ranken kill and an Overton hitting error started a set-ending 4-0 run. Overton’s last lead in the fifth set came at 2-1. Overton finished the season 28-6, with four losses to Amherst. The Eagles were the only team this season to push the Broncos to a fifth set, doing so twice.
Overton finished in the top four at state for the sixth time in the last seven seasons. Ryan had 23 kills for the Eagles while Hughes finished with 20.
Interactive MaxPreps Bracket | State Championship Stats
CLASS D-2: Wynot Wins First State Title
Wynot has been known for their small town girls basketball prowess. But, now, with long-time coach Steve Wieseler’s son, Tristan, leading the volleyball program there is a first state title in school history for the Blue Devil volleyball program.
With dad coaching the girls basketball team, Wiesler’s mom, Tammy, led the girls program for many years leading the Blue Devils to the state title game in 2016. On Saturday morning his Blue Devils knocked off Cambridge 19-25, 25-21, 25-16, 25-15, 15-5.
“They have been very supportive of me,” Tristan said, “but really all of the girls. They are at all of the game. And, growing up since I was three years old I was just kind of around it for many years. Having them in my corner and having an example to go off of has been beneficial for all of us.
“It’s allowed these girls to have success, too.”
Enough of the coach, though, his players were the ones that came through when they were down 2-1 after Cambridge dominated in a 25-16 third set win. In the fourth set, the Blue Devils served four aces and senior Kenna Oligmeuller had six of her 25 kills as they seized momentum 25-17.
Oligmueller was then asking for the ball in the deciding fifth set. She had every Wynot kill – nine in total – as the Devils stormed the court on a Cambridge hitting error. Down 3-1 to start the set, libero Jaylin Geiser served a 7-point service run.
“We knew that it was now or never,” Oligmueller said. “We went out in the fifth set and knew they were going to fire at us and we had to fire right back. I just told my setter, ‘keep feeding me.’ They were giving me the line, so I took it.”
Hayley Wiesler, who finished with 42 assists, happily obliged.
Cambridge, in their fifth state title game, was runner-up for a fourth time. They also finished second in 2023. Brooklyn Holtz (22), Mallory Springer (21) and Joslyn Holtz (16) had 59 of the 60 Trojans kills. Cambridge out swung Wynot 202-149, but the Devils countered with 11 blocks and 85 digs.
“It has kind of been that way all year for us,” Tristan Wieseler said of the attack discrepancy. “We try to be as efficient as we can in the front row and just get a whole bunch of digs. Our defense and block really showed up today.”
Wynot finished their championship season 31-4.
Interactive MaxPreps Bracket | State Championship Stats
Tony Chapman is a freelance writer based in Grand Island. He has written for multiple Nebraska daily and weekly newspapers. His weekly Harvest Sports Newsletter covers a wide variety of Nebraska prep sports.
Chris Basnett is a freelance writer based in Lincoln. He has covered prep and college sports for more than 20 years and most recently was the assistant sports editor at the Lincoln Journal Star. He currently provides content for the Harvest Sports Newsletter.