After participating in the toughest volleyball sub-district in the state of Nebraska, the St. Paul volleyball team earned a wildcard and the twelfth seed into the district final round, played on Saturday at the site of the higher seeded team. That meant that the Wildcats had to travel to Malcolm to take on the fifth-rated and 30-2 Clippers, with the winner advancing to this week’s NSAA State Volleyball Championships in Lincoln. St. Paul executed its game plan to near perfection in the first set, pulling away for a 25-19 win. Things continued to roll for the Wildcats in the second set, as the Blue and Gold led 16-13 after one full rotation. The teams remained tied at 21-21 when the Clippers rattled off four straight points to take the set 25-21. The third set played out in nearly the exact same fashion, with the Wildcats leading 2018, only to see Malcolm score six in a row to get to set point and, eventually, win the set 25-21. St. Paul was able to hold its lead in the fourth set, as the Wildcats led 20-14. Malcolm would once again rally to close the score to 23-24 before a kill by Jenna Jakubowski pushed the match to a deciding fifth set. Malcolm jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the fifth, but St. Paul battled back to tie the score at 8-8. A burst by Malcolm put them up by three points. The Wildcats clawed back to 12-13, but the Clippers scored the final two points of the match to win 15-12.

The St. Paul Wildcats didn’t get any respite from their grueling schedule last week, as the Blue and Gold made the trek to Albion to face off with the fifthranked Cardinals for their regular season finale. While Boone Central had been challenged during the regular season, with the Cardinals having a playoff berth sewn up, they held nothing back in their 48-0 rout of the Wildcats. “We were flat,” said St. Paul Head Coach Rusty Fuller following Thursday night’s season finale. “We couldn’t get any energy going with the kids. We had a game plan coming in and tried to run the ball, but we couldn’t run it. We just couldn’t get any offensive production.

After not qualifying a runner for the NSAA State Cross Country Championships last year, this fall, the Centurions were hoping that the Burgundy and Gray would be represented on the state course at the Kearney Country Club this week. However, a deep field full of talented competition proved to be too much for Centura to overcome, and the Centurions closed out their 2022 campaign on the course at the Elks Country Club outside of Hastings. Last Thursday afternoon, Centura joined thirteen other teams at the District D-2 Cross Country Meet, and, on the boys’ side, the Centurions came away with an eleventh-place finish. Centura scored 112 points in the team race, which allowed them to finish ahead of teams from Palmer and Silver Lake. Key to that effort was sophomore Zavery Jensen and senior Cole Callahan.

For the seventh time in as many seasons, the St. Paul volleyball team took home the LouPlatte Conference Tournament championship trophy. Also, for the seventh straight time, the Wildcats won the title in a 3-0 sweep. This year’s edition was a rematch of the 2021 tournament final, and, once again, St. Paul bested their cross-county rivals from Centura 25-18, 25-9, 25-23. Four early service aces helped Centura race out to a 9-4 lead in the first set and prompted St. Paul Head Coach Matt Koehn-Fairbanks to call an early timeout. A kill by Clara Kunze got the serve back for the Wildcats. The teams traded errors, which brought Kunze to the service line, where she rattled off eight consecutive points to put the ‘Cats up 15-10. Jenna Jakubowski pounded three kills during that run and Maya Becker added two. The Centurions would get no closer the rest of the way, as kills by Becker and Jakubowski ended the set. St. Paul continued its momentum right into the second set, as Jessica Vetick served the Wildcats to a 6-0 lead. Tough serving was key in that frame, as St. Paul finished with six, including four by Jakubowski. The St. Paul block also played a factor, as Gracie Mudloff had three of her six blocks in the second set. A sweep looked promising for the Wildcats in the third set after Vetick ace capped a 4-0 run to put St. Paul up 14-11. St. Paul held the lead all the way to 23-19 after Jakubowski’s fourteenth kill of the match, when Centura made its move. The Centurions got back-to-back stuff blocks to bring the score to 23-22 and an ace serve by Carlie Sokol tied the score at 23-23. A Centura error after a long rally gave St. Paul match point and the Wildcats won the match with a big double block by Gracie Kelley and Gracie Mudloff. Becker finished with seven kills, Mudloff and Kunze had five apiece, and Kelley earned four. Natalie Poss dished out thirty- two assists and added a block and an ace serve. Jakubowski led in aces with three, while Vetick had two and Kunze one. Jakubowski and Kunze each finished in double figure digs with seventeen and twelve, respectively, while Vetick, Poss, and Harlee Behring each had nine.

Coming into their fall campaign, the St. Paul Wildcats were well aware of the fact that they were going to encounter several top ten teams this season. What they didn’t know in August was that, during the eighth week of the regular season, on homecoming at St. Paul High School, they would be seeing another ranked opponent.