The RPAC Represented Well at the NCA Senior Showcase
Updated: Jul 25
On Tuesday, July 21st, and Wednesday, July 22nd, the Nebraska Coaches Association Volleyball and Basketball All-Star Games took place in Lincoln at Lincoln North Star High School. We had a number of RPAC athletes compete in the events: Two volleyball players, two girls basketball players, two boys basketball players, and also a coach from the conference for the boys basketball game.
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Let’s begin with the volleyball match. Here are the rosters for the match. Click here.
Southwest’s Anikka and Kyra Nelms competed. Unfortunately for Kyra, she was unable to play due to an injury, but did participate in all of the festivities. They were on the Blue Team. In the first set, the Blue Team built a 9-5 lead. The Red All-Stars took a timeout as they trailed 13-7 to try and slow down the run. The Blue All-Stars continued to push forward, leading 19-11 late in the opening set.
The Blue All-Stars won the opening set 25-16. In set number two, the Red All-Stars jumped out to a 5-0 lead. The Red squad kept things going and built the lead to 13-6. The Blue All-Stars took a timeout as they trailed 15-10. The Red All-Stars took the set, 25-19. In set number three, the Red All-Stars began with a narrow lead, 10-8. The Blue All-Stars, though, battled back and took a 13-12 lead. Late in the set, the Blue All-Stars led 21-18, and the Red All-Stars had to take a timeout.
The Blue All-Stars took the set, 25-20. In the fourth set, the Blue All-Stars took an early lead, 7-4. The Red All-Stars began climbing back as they took the lead 9-8. The Blue All-Stars had to take a runout as they trailed 11-8. The Blue All-Stars were trailing but kept fighting back and cut the deficit to 21-18.
The Red All-Stars slammed the door on the comeback, though, winning 25-19. In the fifth set, it was back and forth, and early the Blue All-Stars led 4-3. But the teams were trading the lead. The Red All-Stars took a 9-6 lead, and the Blue squad had to take a timeout. The Blue All-Stars battled back and tied it up at 11-11. The Blue All-Stars then scored a couple more, and it was 13-11, forcing a timeout. After that, it was all tied up at 13-13. The Blue All-Stars then won via a block, 15-13.
We chatted with Anikka and Kyra after the match about the experience. "...It was fun, like coming in and meeting new people, and then just, like, you know, because I'm going to college next week. It was nice to like get some reps in with some very good players from all around the state. So it was really good to just, you know, get to know them and just work really hard with them," said Anikka.
"...everybody has just, like, a different type of personality, and, like, it was fun talking to them about, like, the small town where I live in, like, we were comparing Omaha to Indianola and everything. So it was just, like, a lot of fun to, like, get to know them, and, like, just, like, share our experiences throughout high school," added Kyra.
On Wednesday evening, we had the NCA Senior Showcase, and Karissa Stengel of Maywood-Hayes Center played on the Red Team and Clara Spargo of Dundy County Stratton competed on the Blue Team. In the opening quarter, the offenses were rolling as a number of three-pointers were swished in. The Red Team was able to create a little space with about a minute to go in the quarter, up 20-14. They maintained that lead and were up 25-16 heading to the second period.
Here are the rosters for the girls basketball game. Click here.
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Early on in the second quarter, the offenses cooled off a little bit as scoring became more difficult. Then a few minutes in, multiple three-pointers were hit from each team. The Blue All-Stars were able to cut the deficit down to 28-24 about halfway through the quarter. They even took the lead, 34-31. The Red Team, though, reclaimed the lead heading to the half, 40-38. The intensity picked up in the second half. About halfway through the quarter, the Red squad led 52-49. The Red All-Stars created some distance late in the quarter, up 61-54. Back-to-back threes to close the quarter allowed the Red Team to have a 67-59 lead going to the final stanza.
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In the fourth quarter, the teams continued to battle as the Blue All-Stars got within one, 72-71, with about five minutes to go in the game. The Red All-Stars, though, countered with a 9-0 run to lead 81-71 with about four minutes to go in the game. The Red All-Stars were able to hang on for the win, 83-78.
Clara was named the Most Valuable Teammate for the Blue Squad.
We chatted with both Karissa and Clara after the games. Karissa told us about her experience. "It was really exciting. It's a great opportunity to come down and play with all these great athletes and try new things. We went bowling the other night, and just, yeah, meeting new people is exciting."
Clara tells us about winning the Most Valuable Teammate Award. "I was like, I was like pleasantly surprised. I didn't know who was going to get it because I, like, I had so many good teammates around me, so I was like, I don't know who to vote for. And I'm sure that's how everyone else was, but yeah, I'm super happy to get that just because, like, I had a lot of fun here and I'm glad that people enjoyed having me around because I enjoyed having everyone around."
Rosters for the boys game: Click here.
In the Boys game, we had Zavier Mitchell of Alma and Houston Billeter of Southwest playing on the Blue All-Stars. Bob Braithwait of Wallace was the Head Coach for the Blue Team.
The Red All-Stars took control of the game, leading 21-12 early on. They kept control of the game, up 28-16 heading to the second quarter. In the second quarter, the Red Team continued to have control of the game and led 39-29 with 3:30 to go in the half.
The Blue All-Stars cut the deficit a little, trailing 53-46 at halftime. The Blue All-Stars began with a 12-3 run to take a 58-55 lead with 7:10 to go in the third. The Red All-Stars, though, took the lead back, and going to the fourth quarter it was 76-72.
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At the six-minute mark, the Blue All-Stars took an 87-83 lead. The Red All-Stars countered with a run of their own, leading 92-91, forcing a Blue timeout. The Red All-Stars did enough to get the win, 99-96.
We visited with Houston, Zavier, and Coach Braithwait after the game.
"Yeah, it's very, very unique, just as in their style of how they play and a lot of Class A kids that are quicker, and they like to play faster. We have to learn to do that and learn to play with each other and knowing each other's strengths," said Houston.
Zavier told us about his favorite thing about the experience. "Probably hanging out with everyone, you know. And honestly, other than that, probably the game; it was a lot of fun, and we didn't come on top, but it's fine, a lot of fun."
Braithwait told us how much he enjoyed this experience. "...it's always great when you get to work with talented kids. I mean, it's an honor to be a part of this...and then you'd be asked to do the game is pretty special...It's just amazing, and they did a great job of coming together..."
