Ogallala High School Girls' Volleyball falls short to Holdrege in four sets in the first round at the State Tournament

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By: Evan Troxel

The #1 ranked Ogallala Lady Indians Girls' High School Volleyball team in Class C1 fell to the #8 ranked Holdrege Dusters three sets to one on Wednesday afternoon, November 5th, 2025, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena's North Court in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Holdrege won 25-18, 25-17, lost 23-25 and won 25-23.

Holdrege's Carson Sundquist had 15 kills and two blocks.

Gracie Johnson had 10 kills and two ace serves.

For Ogallala, Laney Caskey recorded 18 kills, two blocks and had one ace serve!

Alex Ervin had 13 kills and one block while Shaydyn Rasby had ten kills and four blocks!

In the first set, Holdrege led 5-1. Ogallala's Shaydyn Rasby scored three points in a row to make it Holdrege 8, Ogallala 7, one point for sure on a block and one point for sure on a kill.

Holdrege then led 10-8 and 15-12 before Ogallala called a timeout.

Holdrege led 18-13 before a couple of points from Ogallala's Alex Ervin to make it Holdrege 18, Ogallala 15.

The Dusters then led 20-15 and 22-16 before another Ogallala timeout.

Ogallala got it within five at 22-17 and 23-18 before the Dusters closed out set #1 25-18.

In set number two, the Dusters scored first and took a 3-1 lead.

Then, Ogallala's Kooper Knispel scored to make it Holdrege 3, Ogallala 2, before the Indians tied it up at three.

Holdrege then led 5-3, before another point from Kooper Knispel to make it 5-4.

Carson Sundquist and Averi Bilka scored points for Holdrege to give the Dusters a 7-4 lead.

A kill by Ogallala's Laney Caskey made it Holdrege 8, Ogallala 6, and then Laney Caskey hit the volleyball long to give Holdrege a 10-6 lead.

Holdrege scored two more and took a 12-6 lead and then Ogallala called timeout.

After the timeout, Alex Ervin had a kill to make it 13-7 and then Laney Caskey had a kill to made it 14-8 before Ervin had another kill to make it 14-9.

Holdrege then led 16-11 because of a point from Gracie Johnson and then Alex Ervin got a kill and Shaydyn Rasby got a block to make it 16-14 before Holdrege called a timeout.

The Dusters then took a 19-14 lead, before Alex Ervin got a block to make it 19-15.

Carson Sundquist then got a point for Holdrege before a Holdrege serving error made it 20-16 in favor of Holdrege.

Ogallala then called timeout again with the Dusters leading 21-16.

Ellie Pelster then had three straight errors for Holdrege before Ogallala's Laney Caskey had a kill to make it Holdrege 24 and Ogallala 17.

The Dusters then got a block and won set two 25-17.

In set number three, Ogallala scored first and then Addison Powell scored a point and Laney Caskey got a kill!

So, Ogallala led 3-0 and then Carson Sundquist hit the ball out of bounds and the Indians led 4-0.

Holdrege got on the board to make it 4-1 and then Laney Caskey recorded another point to give Ogallala a 5-1 lead.

Three straight mistakes by each team made the score 6-3 and then Emily Stutzman got a point to make it 6-4 for Holdrege.

Shaydyn Rasby scored a point to make it Ogallala 7, Holdrege 4, Carson Sundquist scored for the Dusters, and then Alex Ervin got a kill to make it 8-5.

A couple more mistakes by Ogallala made it 8-7 in favor of the Indians and then both teams went back and forth and Laney Caskey scored for Ogallala to make it 10-8 in favor of Ogallala.

Emily Stutzman scored to cut the deficit to one for Holdrege at 10-9 and then a hit into the net by Ogallala tied up the score at 10.

Holdrege then led 13-10 before another Ogallala timeout.

The Dusters led 14-10 before Kooper Knispel got a block and Alex Ervin got a kill to make it 14-12.

Ogallala got within one at 14-13 by a mistake from Gracie Johnson and both teams went back and forth scoring and then Ogallala's Paige Armijo recorded an ace to tie it up at 15 apiece!

Gracie Johnson scored a kill to give Holdrege a 16-15 lead, Alex Ervin recorded a kill to make it 16-16, Gracie Johnson again scored and then Shaydyn Rasby scored to tie it up at 17!

Ogallala's Hayden Shaw then got a kill to give the Indians an 18-17 lead!

Carson Sundquiest and Ada Skile Nitchie then scored for Holdrege to tie it up at 18!

Holdrege then led 19-18 before Ogallala took a one point lead at 20-19 with a Laney Caskey kill!

Carson Sundquist then made a mistake and Ogallala led by two 21-19!

Holdrege then called timeout.

Laney Caskey then recorded another kill and Carson Sundquist hit the ball out of bounds to give Ogallala a four-point lead at 23-19!

Holdrege again called timeout.

Carson Sundquist got a kill, Holdrege then scored another point to make it Ogallala 23, Holdrege 21 and then Holdrege got penalized for a lift and it was Ogallala 24, Holdrege 21.

Ogallala then made a mistake and Holdrege got an ace serve to make it Ogallala 24, Holdrege 23.

Caskey then got the kill for the Indians to finish set number three and Ogallala won 25-23!

In set number four, Ogallala took a 1-0 lead because of a Laney Caskey kill and then Holdrege tied it up at one.

Caskey scored again for Ogallala and then Gracie Johnson scored to tie it up at two!

Alex Ervin scored and Shaydyn Rasby scored to give Ogallala a 4-2 lead!

Then, Carson Sundquist, scored to make it 4-3 before an Ogallala lift mistake tied up the score at four!

Holdrege took a 5-4 lead, before Shaydyn Rasby recorded a kill and tied up the score at five!

Carson Sundquist then hit the volleyball out of bounds and Alex Ervin for Ogallala got a kill to make it Ogallala 7, Holdrege 5.

Sundquist then hit the volleyball long to make it Ogallala 9, Holdrege 5, and then Shaydyn Rasby helped Ogallala score another point to make it Ogallala 10, Holdrege 5.

Rasby then hit the ball out and then got another kill as Ogallala led at that point 11 to 6.

Sundquist then recorded a kill for Holdrege and then Shaydyn Rasby scored again for Ogallala to make it 12-7.

Ogallala then hit the ball into the antenna before Addison Powell got a point and Ogallala led 13-8.

Gracie Johnson recorded a kill before Ogallala hit it into the net to make it 13-10 in favor of Ogallala.

Carson Sundquist recorded a kill to tie up the score at 13 apiece.

Laney Caskey then had a kill and an ace serve to give Ogallala a 15-13 lead!

Addison Powell then got a block to give Ogallala a 16-13 lead before Caskey made a serving error to make it 16-14.

Powell then recorded another point for Ogallala and a volleyball hit into the net by Holdrege gave Ogallala an 18-14 lead!

Holdrege called timeout.

Two points by Carson Sundquist, a volleyball hit into the net by Ogallala's Alex Ervin and an ace serve by Holdrege's Gracie Johnson tied up the score at 18!

Ogallala then called timeout.

Sundquist scored and an ace serve by Gracie Johnson made it Holdrege 20, Ogallala 18.

Shaydyn Rasby recorded a kill for Ogallala and then Carson Sundquiest scored to make it Holdrege 21, Ogallala 19.

Alex Ervin and Shaydyn Rasby each recorded a kill and Ogallala tied up the score at 21!

Then, Carson Sundquist scored again and a lift against Holdrege tied it up again at 22!

Emily Stutzman recorded a kill and so did Gracie Johnson and Holdrege led 24-22.

Ogallala called timeout.

Laney Caskey then recorded her last kill ever as an Ogallala Indian in organized high school volleyball as Holdrege led 24-23.

On the next point, Laney Caskey then hit the volleyball out of bounds and Holdrege won 25-23.

For the Holdrege Dusters, Emily Stutzman had five kills and one ace.

Averi Bilka had six kills (five for sure)!

Ellie Pelster had four ace serves.

Addy Stutzman had three kills (one for sure).

Ada Skile Nitchie had one block and one kill.

For the Ogallala Lady Indians, Addison Powell had four kills and two blocks.

Kooper Knispel had three kills and one block.

Paige Armijo had an ace serve!

Hayden Shaw recorded a kill.

So with the loss, Ogallala never had a match go to a fifth set all season long!

Ogallala also lost once all season in a best-of-five match and that was on November 5th, 2025!

Ogallala also ended their season with 31 wins and just four losses and lost twice to Holdrege.

For Holdrege (23-9), they will play against #4 ranked Omaha Concordia (30-8) on the North Court at the Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday, November 7th, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. Central Time.

The other semifinal matchup in Class C1 will be between #2 Milford (31-1) and #6 Malcolm (24-8) at 3:00 p.m. Central Time on Friday, November 7th, 2025, at 3:00 p.m. Central Time or after the Holdrege versus Omaha Concordia match.

If Holdrege can beat Omaha Concordia, they could possibly take another shot at Malcolm who defeated Holdrege three sets to zero on October 27th.

The championship game in Class C1 for High School Varsity Volleyball in Nebraska will take place at 3:00 p.m. Central Time on Saturday, November 8th, 2025, at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.

The third-place game in Class C1 will take place earlier in the day at 9:00 a.m. Central Time at Lincoln East High School in Lincoln, Nebraska.