Shayla Rautenberg Had 93 Kills in Three State Tournament Matches, 40 in the Semifinal, and Milford Won Nebraska's Class C1 Title Again

Shayla Rautenberg Had 93 Kills in Three State Tournament Matches, 40 in the Semifinal, and Milford Won Nebraska's Class C1 Title Again

Milford junior Shayla Rautenberg, a Nebraska commit, had 25, 40 and 28 kills in three state matches, 9.3 per set, and finished off Aurora for the Eagles' second straight Class C1 volleyball title.

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Shayla Rautenberg's kill totals at last week's Nebraska state volleyball tournament went 25, 40 and 28. The Milford junior finished with 93 kills in 10 sets, 9.3 a set, and the last one ended the Class C1 final and gave the Eagles their second straight title.

Milford beat Aurora 25-23, 28-26, 25-14 on Saturday, Nov. 7, in Lincoln, according to the NSAA's championship recap. The fourth-seeded Eagles finished 32-3. In MaxPreps' Nebraska rankings, read through BallerTube's Parse feed, Milford sits No. 7 across all classes.

Shayla Rautenberg's 40-Kill Semifinal

Rautenberg is a middle blocker on the roster who plays all over the court, and she committed to Nebraska's 2028 class in June. Her semifinal against Omaha Concordia, now 37-3 and ranked No. 9 in the state by MaxPreps, was the high point: 40 kills on 79 attacks, a .342 hitting percentage, seven blocks and five digs, according to HuskerMax's report on SI. Milford won it in four sets. In the quarterfinal against Kearney Catholic she had 25 kills on .391 hitting.

A .346 Hitting Percentage on 185 Swings

Volume usually costs efficiency. It did not here. Across the three matches Rautenberg hit .346 on 185 attacks and added 14 blocks, 16 digs and four aces, per HuskerMax. In the final she had 28 kills, three aces and four blocks, per the NSAA, while teammate Braelynn Muller had nine kills and 20 assists and libero Libbie Reil had 13 digs. KLKN reports Rautenberg topped 580 kills this season, a career high, and that Milford closed the year on a 25-match winning streak. Her season high was 45 kills in the Southern Nebraska Conference final against Thayer Central.

A Slow September, Then 25 Straight

Milford lost five seniors from last year's champion and dropped three of six matches in September, after Rautenberg missed the first week to play for the U.S. team that won the U23 Pan American Volleyball Cup in Nicaragua, per HuskerMax and KLKN. She has one more high school season left. See Milford's BallerTube school page for more.