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The volleyball season hasn't started yet, and already there seems to be a buzz about it.

Much of that interest centers on Papillion-La Vista South, which enters Thursday night's season opener against Omaha Burke with high expectations. The Titans are ranked fifth nationally by prepvolleyball.com and seem to be on a mission to snag the school's first state volleyball title.

But nobody is ready to crown Papio South just yet. There's an entire season ahead, so it will be fun to see how this whole scenario plays out.

Among other great storylines to watch this year:

• Omaha Gross gunning for its second straight Class B title. The Cougars lost only one player from last year's squad and appear to be second only to the Titans in overall firepower.

• The Bellevue Invitational. Keep your eyes on this first major test for many of the top squads, including the two mentioned above. The winner of this 16-team tournament often has gone on to win state, so a strong showing here is something to take seriously.

• Omaha Marian. The Crusaders are the defending Class A champions, but five players have graduated from that 42-1 squad of a year ago. The team is still dangerous with the return of Nebraska recruit Lauren Sieckmann, and you know coach Rochelle Rohlfs will relish the “nobody-expects-us-to-repeat” mentality that could fire up her team.

• Grand Island Northwest. The Vikings have finished as the Class B runners-up three straight years, something that will unquestionably motivate coach Diane Rouzee's squad. Top hitter Taylor Johnson has graduated, but other players are ready to step up.

• Columbus Scotus vs. Grand Island Central Catholic. It just wouldn't be an official season without mentioning these two great programs that annually vie for Class C supremacy. The schools have combined for 22 state titles, and much of the credit goes to longtime coaches John Petersen (Scotus) and Sharon Zavala (GICC).

• Zavala's state record. She hasn't broken the record yet, but the Crusaders coach is closing in on the all-time Nebraska mark for career victories. Retired Lincoln East coach Myron Oehlerking has 793, and Zavala enters this season with 786.

• Alan Van Cura's mark. The longtime Hastings St. Cecilia coach is the next in line to join the exclusive 700-win club. He enters this season with 690 victories and trails only Oehlerking, Zavala, Millard South's Joanne Kappas (774), Petersen (761) and Steve Morgan of Ogallala (731).

• Co-ops and class changes. You've got to be alert these days to keep track of schools either changing names altogether (Cedar Valley, formerly Greeley-Wolbach and Cedar Rapids; South Loup, formerly Arnold and Callaway), taking a co-op name (Wheeler Central/Chambers) or moving up or down a class (Bennington up to Class B, Elkhorn down to Class B, Sandy Creek up to C-1, West Point Central Catholic down to Class D-1, etc.).

• Wewel steps down. Longtime Fremont Bergan coach Sue Wewel resigned after last season with an impressive 594-313 record. In addition to being an outstanding coach, Sue was always a friendly presence at the gym. She'll be missed this year.

• The state tournament moving to Grand Island. After losing out twice before, the Grand Island-Hastings area came home a winner last year in its bid for the tourney in 2010 and 2011. It has taken place in Lincoln since 1981, so this will be a major change. No Devaney? No Pershing? No Coliseum? That is going to take some getting used to.

That's enough for now. The season begins Thursday night, so I'll once again quote from longtime state tournament announcer Dwight “Doc” Wininger and say:

“Let's ... play ... volleyball!”

Contact the writer:

444-1350, mike.patterson@owh.com

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