Ogallala Volleyball defeats Battle Creek in District Final; Ogallala to play Holdrege in first round of State Tournament

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By: Evan Troxel

The number one ranked Ogallala Indians High School Girls' Varsity volleyball team in Class C1 in the state of Nebraska defeated the number sixteen ranked Battle Creek Bravettes three sets to zero in the District Final match on Saturday afternoon on November 1st, 2025, at the Steve Morgan Court in the Prairie View Gymnasium in Ogallala, Nebraska.

Ogallala won 25-14, 25-22 and 25-10.

Battle Creek's Ali Korth recorded 11 kills and one block.

Ryder Wehrle had led Battle Creek with five aces and also had two kills.

For Ogallala, Laney Caskey led the way with a team-high 18 kills and also had one block and two ace serves.

Alex Ervin had ten kills, four blocks and one ace.

In the first set, Battle Creek's Ava Kuchar had the first serve of the game and Ogallala jumped out to a 7-0 lead because of seven straight serves from Ogallala's Hayden Shaw.

Battle Creek's Ryder Wehrle had three serves and cut the deficit to 8-3.

Ogallala led 10-4 and 12-6 before Battle Creek scored three points and cut the deficit to 13-9 because of three serves from Battle Creek's Jaidyn Smutny.

Addison Slama then served seven straight times for Ogallala and the Indians led 19-10.

Ryder Wehrle again had three serves for the Bravettes and Ogallala led 21-14 at that point.

Ogallala's Laney Caskey then served the final four points of the first set and Ogallala won 25-14 because of a successful play by Ogallala's Alex Ervin on the last play of the first set.

In set number two, Battle Creek led 1-0 because of an Ali Korth point and then the Bravettes led 3-1 and 4-2 and 4-3.

Sadie Flansburg for Ogallala then had four straight serves and Ogallala took a 6-5 lead.

Ogallala led 10-5 and then Battle Creek's Ryder Wehrle struck again serving seven straight times (including at least three ace serves) and her serving ended from a Laney Caskey point and the Bravettes had a 15-11 lead at that point.

Caskey then served four straight times and Battle Creek still led Ogallala 16-14.

Ogallala then got to work as Paige Armijo had four serves (including two ace serves) and Ogallala led 18-17.

Battle Creek tied it at 18 before Ogallala took a two-point lead again at 20-18 and 21-19.

A kill by Laney Caskey made it 22-19 and eventually the score was 24-20 in favor of Ogallala.

Ali Korth scored a point to make it 24-22 and then Addison Powell scored the final point for Ogallala in the set and the Indians won set number two 25-22.

In set number three, Addison Powell got back to work with the first point of the set for Ogallala to take a 1-0 lead and then Ali Korth came back to tie it up at one!

Laney Caskey recorded another kill and then Marissa Hitz had a kill for Battle Creek to tie up the score at two.

Kooper Knispel then recorded a point for Ogallala and then the Indians got rolling as they took a 7-3 lead because of five straight serves from Ogallala's Paige Armijo.

Shaydyn Rasby had two straight points for Ogallala to make it 10-4 and Alex Ervin had four straight serves and the Indians led 12-5 at that point.

Laney Caskey had back-to-back points for Ogallala to make it 14-5 and Ella Mueller had three straight serves for the Indians to make it 15-6 at that point.

Both teams exchanged points and it was 18-9 at that point in favor of Ogallala and then Alex Ervin scored two straight points to make it 20-9 before an ace serve by Sadie Flansburg made it 21-9.

Flansburg had three straight serves and Ogallala led 21-10 at thtat point.

On the next point, Battle Creek's Karley Freudenburg hit the volleyball too far, Ogallala scored a point and it was 22-10.

Then Alex Ervin served for the final three points of the match.

Shaydyn Rasby scored a point, Alex Ervin scored the next point to make it Battle Creek 10, Ogallala 24, and then on match point Shaydyn Rasby hit the volleyball from the south side of the net on the right side to the middle and left side of the north part of the court from Ogallala's perspective and the kill by Rasby sent Ogallala to the State Tournament in Lincoln, Nebraska!

So Ogallala won set three 25-10.

For Battle Creek, Karley Freudenburg had four kills and two blocks.

Marissa Hitz had five kills.

Halle Borchers had two kills.

Kinnley Wehrle had one kill and one block.

Baylar Taake had one ace serve.

For Ogallala, Shaydyn Rasby had eight kills and four blocks.

Addison Powell had six kills and three blocks.

Kooper Knispel had three kills.

Paige Armijo had two ace serves while Sadie Flansburg had one ace serve.

Hayden Shaw had one kill.

Due to the loss to Ogallala, the season ended on Saturday for the Battle Creek Bravettes.

On the other hand, #1 ranked Ogallala (31-3) will be playing #8 Holdrege (22-9) in the first round of the State Tournament at 1:00 p.m. Central Time on Wednesday, November 5th, 2025, at the Pinnacle Bank Arena on the North Court.

Ogallala has played Holdrege three times already this season and Ogallala has won two of the three matches.

On September 23rd, Holdrege won two sets to zero.

On October 4th, Ogallala won two sets to zero.

On October 21st, Ogallala won three sets to one.

Ogallala also hasn't lost a single best-of-five set match all season long!

For Holdrege, they have lost to potential state championship game opponent named Adams Central three times this season with two of those three matches only being a best-of-three sets match and all three of those matches against Adams Central went the maximum number of sets.

Holdrege also lost to a potential state championship game opponent named Malcolm three sets to zero on October 27th.

The winner of Ogallala and Holdrege will play the winner of #4 Omaha Concordia (29-8) and #5 Ashland-Greenwood (23-8) on Friday, November 7th, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. Central Time at the Pinnacle Bank Arena on the North Court.

Omaha Concordia and Ashland-Greenwood will play on the North Court at Pinnacle Bank Arena at 3:00 p.m. Central Time or following the conclusion of Ogallala and Holdrege on Wednesday, November 5th.

#2 Milford (30-1) will play #7 Adams Central (24-9) at 1:00 p.m. Central Time on the South Court at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Wednesday, November 5th, 2025.

#3 Lincoln Lutheran (29-6) will play #6 Malcolm (23-8) at 3:00 p.m. Central Time on the South Court at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Wednesday, November 5th, 2025, after Milford and Adams Central get done playing.

The winners of Milford vs. Adams Central and Lincoln Lutheran vs. Malcolm will play each other on the North Court at Pinnacle Bank Arena on Friday, November 7th at 3:00 p.m. Central Time or at the conclusion of the first semifinal game.

The third place match in Class C1 is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. Central Time at Lincoln East High School on Saturday, November 8th, 2025.

The championship game in Class C1 is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. Central Time at the Bob Devaney Sports Center.