Nebraska's most improved high school volleyball squads

Elm Creek and Neligh-Oakdale are tied for biggest leap year-over-year.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Dean Backes
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Sep 28, 2018, 10:00am
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Although Nebraska is still a few weeks out from district play, we have decided to crunch the numbers and establish which Cornhusker State volleyball programs are demonstrating larger than life improvements over a year ago.

After climbing 127 spots each in MaxPreps' Nebraska Volleyball Rankings, Elm Creek and Neligh-Oakdale tied for the top spot as Nebraska's most improved clubs. Normally, in the case of a tie, the program that made the greatest improvement in its won-loss record earned the higher spot. However, both the Buffaloes and the Warriors improved their won-loss records by an astounding 8.5 games each to remain deadlocked.

Elm Creek sits 63rd following Tuesday's latest rankings, while Neligh-Oakdale squeezes into the Top 100 at No. 98 after finishing 225th in Nebraska a year ago. Class D2 Mullen rose 121 spots to claim the No. 55 ranking Tuesday, while Cody-Kilgore and Amherst round out this week's Top 5 in the Nos. 4 and 5 spots following 107 and 99 spot upgrades respectively over last fall's final rankings.

Every classification is represented in this week's Top 10 except for Classes A and B. Omaha Northwest represents Nebraska's largest classification with its 64 rung jump to 130th, while Class B is led by Plattsmouth's 61 spot upgrade to 108th. Fremont, in Class A, and Class B's Sidney also improved by leaps and bounds after climbing 57 and 56 spots over a year ago respectively.

Nebraska's most improved volleyball teams

1. (tie) Elm Creek +127
Final 2017 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 190th (11-18)
2018-19 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 63rd (13-3)

1. (tie) Neligh-Oakdale (Neligh) +127
Final 2017 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 225th (10-19)
2018-19 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 98th (11-3)

3. Mullen +121
Final 2017 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 176th (17-13)
2018-19 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 55th (12-3)

4. Cody-Kilgore (Cody) +107
Final 2017 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 210th (14-11)
2018-19 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 103rd (10-2)

5. Amherst +99
Final 2017 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 174th (13-5)
2018-19 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 75th (11-5)

6. McPherson County (Tryon) +92
Final 2017 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 259th (8-17)
2018-19 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 167th (9-2)

7. Thayer Central (Hebron) +90
Final 2017 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 101st (18-16)
2018-19 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 11th (15-0)

8. Chambers/Wheeler Central (Chambers) +89
Final 2017 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 143rd (17-12)
2018-19 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 54th (13-1)

9. Boyd County (Spencer) +82
Final 2017 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 220th (10-18)
2018-19 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 138th (13-7)

10. Chadron +78
Final 2017 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 162nd (15-22)
2018-19 MaxPreps Rating (Record): 84th (6-7)

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