The high school volleyball season is scheduled to begin on Saturday for a few area teams and with that we are set to preview each area league and today we begin with the Big Seven League.

The 2019 volleyball season was another big year for teams in the Big Seven League as Holton, Royal Valley and Nemaha Central each advanced to their respective state tournaments.

Royal Valley continued their stretch of strong play inside of the Hutchinson Sports Arena as the Panthers breezed through state and captured a Class 3A State Championship which proved to be their second state title captured in Hutch in less than a year after winning a basketball state title a few months prior.

The Panthers now head into 2020 as the favorites to repeat not only as Big Seven League Champions but the state title as well with four starters returning in seniors Ivy Fink, Morgan Harvey and Emma McKinsey who were first team all-league selections a year ago along with sophomore Kennedy Bryan who was honorable mention all-league honoree.

Just like Royal Valley, Nemaha Central advanced to the 3A State Tournament where they failed to make it out of pool play and now head into 2020 without an all-league selection returning.

The Holton Wildcats reached the 4A State Tournament as well and finished third in the league standings winning 30 games overall, but just like Nemaha Central the Lady Cats do not return a player that was named to the all-league team last season.

Sabetha finished second in the league last season and just missed out on reaching the state tournament falling to Nemaha Central in three sets in the sub-state finals. The Lady Jays head into 2020 with one of the best players in the state back in senior Melinna Schumann who was a first team all-league selection the past two seasons.

Hiawatha returns the most all-league players from a year ago other than Royal Valley as the junior duo of Sarah Madsen and Clara Lindstrom are back after producing a 15-17 overall record last season.

The only other returning all-league players from a year ago come from Perry Lecompton and Riverside as the Lady Kaws bring back junior Katy Hurd while the Cyclones return senior Josephina Huff who were both honorable mention all-league selections last season.

The Big Seven League schedule is set to begin next week with a few changes as this season there will be league double duals instead of the traditional triangular format of the past to accommodate for the COVID-19 safety measures.