ELGIN — Year Three of the Jordynn Luettel era of Wolfpack volleyball ended with Wolfpack fans celebrating success again.
The Wolfpack volleyball team put together a 21-11 season, coming up one match short of a berth in the Class D1 State Volleyball Tournament.
In the district final, Southwest denied the Wolfpack a trip to state, winning the match three sets to none. A match which began with energy and promise came to an end with tears and the knowledge that EPPJ played well, but not well enough to win on that day against the Roughriders which heavily relied on twin sisters nearly 6’ tall.
A look back at the 2025 season shows a team that dominated lesser opponents.
The highlight of the season from a team standpoint may have been defeating O’Neill St. Mary’s three sets to one to claim the Niobrara Valley Conference championship. With the title theirs, the Wolfpack rode the crest of momentum to a subdistrict championship played here in Elgin.
The season showed another key fact. In 10 of their 11 losses, some of which came against teams who did advance to the state tournament, they were swept in all but one match.
The Wolfpack were built for success and it showed in final season statistics (courtesy of MaxPreps).
An offense built on balance, the Wolfpack had 967 kills on 2,920 swings during the season. Junior Braelyn Martinsen led the way with 255 kills. Others with more than 100 kills during the season were Kayton Zwingman 194, Camry Kittelson 151, Mady Kurpgeweit 149 and Jael Lammers 147. Few teams could match EPPJ in that category.
From the service line, Kittelson led the team with 36 ace serves, Martinsen had 27 and Brooke Kinney had 20.
Kayton Zwingman led EPPJ in blocks with 80, freshman Lillian Moser had 34.
The Wolfpack came into the season with not a lot of experience in the back row. But, by the end of the season, it had become one of the team’s strengths.
Freshman Gentry Zwingman led the team in digs with 379, Martinsen was second with 349 while Kittelson had 281 and Kinney finished with 277.
….see more at this week’s Elgin Review.
