Class D2 volleyball state outlook 2026: St. Mary's or Mullen at No. 1

Class D2 has two No. 1s, depending on who you ask. St. Mary's (25-4) leads NSAA's wildcard points at 45.793 and is No. 1 in the MaxPreps Class D2 computer rankings. Mullen (26-2, 45.071) is No. 1 in the Hurrdat Sports coaches poll. The two haven't played each other this season, according to NSAA's results, and they're in different sub-districts.

Records and points are from NSAA wildcard standings through Tuesday, Oct. 20 (page updated Oct. 22). Poll ranks are from the Hurrdat Sports coaches poll of Oct. 19, so its records run a match or two behind. NSAA has not posted brackets yet.

How Class D2 gets to state

D2 has 12 sub-districts, played Oct. 26-27. The 12 winners and four at-large teams with the best averages make a 16-team district final bracket on Saturday, Oct. 31. The higher seed hosts, and the eight winners go to state (NSAA manual, pp. 16, 22). NSAA has posted the D2 sub-districts. Sites: D2-1 at Meridian, D2-5 at Elba Public Schools, D2-6 at St. Mary's High School and D2-12 at Hay Springs Public Schools; D2-8 still lists no site (NSAA district assignments, checked Oct. 22).

The top two

St. Mary's (25-4, 45.793) lost to D1's Bloomfield and North Central, to C2's Elkhorn Valley and to C1's Grand Island Central Catholic. It beat C2 No. 3 Laurel-Concord-Coleridge 2-1 on Sept. 10. St. Mary's is in D2-6 with Chambers-Wheeler Central (16-12, 42.286, No. 12).

Mullen (26-2, 45.071) lost to C2's Arcadia/Loup City on Sept. 26 and to C1's Valentine 2-0 on Oct. 20. It beat Sandhills/Thedford 3-0 at the Mid-Nebraska Activities Conference tournament on Oct. 17 and beat Hay Springs twice. Mullen hosts D2-10, which also has Sandhills/Thedford (20-7, 43.000, No. 7).

The rest of the field

Hay Springs (20-7, 43.741) is No. 3 in points. It's in D2-12 with Crawford-Sioux County (22-7, 43.138, No. 6), and those two have split four meetings. Crawford-Sioux County won the last one 2-0 at the PAC Conference tournament on Oct. 17. It jumped from receiving votes to No. 6 in the poll.

Wynot (18-10, 43.607) hosts D2-3 and is No. 3 in the poll. Bancroft-Rosalie (17-12, 43.345) hosts D2-2 and beat Wynot 2-0 on Sept. 12.

Wilcox-Hildreth (17-11, 43.000) hosts D2-7 with Sumner-Eddyville-Miller (15-12, 42.556). It's tied with Sandhills/Thedford for No. 7 in points. Elba (20-9, 42.655) is new in the poll at No. 10.

Where the rankings disagree

Besides No. 1, MaxPreps has Wilcox-Hildreth No. 5 and Chambers-Wheeler Central No. 7 in D2. The coaches poll lists Wilcox-Hildreth only as receiving votes and doesn't include Chambers-Wheeler Central. The coaches have Crawford-Sioux County No. 6 and Meridian No. 9, and MaxPreps has them No. 11 and No. 12.

State

D2 opens state at 9 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 5, at Pinnacle Bank Arena. The D2 final is Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Devaney Sports Center. The full schedule and qualifying rules are in our state volleyball guide.

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