The season is over, but volleyball once again will take the spotlight this week at Papillion-La Vista South.

The undefeated Titans will be recognized as the No. 1 team in the nation by two websites. One presentation will be made by ESPNHS at the school on Tuesday afternoon and the other will be made by MaxPreps on Friday night in between the girls and boys basketball home games.

It will be the second straight year that Papio South will be honored as the top team by both national websites. A third website — PrepVolleyball.com — ranked the Titans second behind Lake Travis of Austin, Texas.

The Texas 4-A champion finished the season 50-0 and features eight players who have committed to Division I schools.

"It's quite the deal for our school and our state," Papio South coach Gwen Egbert said. "We finished second in that other website, but two out of three isn't bad."

Kirstin Olsen of ESPNHS said earning the national title is indeed a big deal.

"There are thousands of teams across the country," she said. "To be named No. 1 is really something, and that presentation for them will be the icing on the cake."

The Titans, who won their first Class A volleyball championship last year to cap a 41-0 season, are riding a win streak that stands at either 78 or 82. The Nebraska School Activities Association lists Papio South's 2011 mark at 37-0 because it does not recognize four matches the team won at the Sioux City Heelan Invitational, which was played to 21 points instead of the in-state mark of 25.

"As far as I'm concerned, we were 41-0," Egbert said. "Those were some tough matches and Iowa has a rule that you can only play up to 21 if you're playing four matches in a single day."

The Nebraska record for consecutive wins is 115, set by Columbus Scotus from 2001-2004.

Papio South lost just four sets this season, two against St. James Academy of Lenexa, Kan., and two against Omaha Marian in the Metro Conference tournament final.

From a national standpoint, the Titans' road victory over nationally ranked St. James — a match that was televised live — was their most important. Papio South lost the first set and trailed 10-1 in the second before fighting back to capture the match in five sets.

"That was a huge win for us," Egbert said. "To beat a ranked team in front of a packed house like that gave us a huge dose of confidence and earned us some respect nationally."

Olsen said that victory was a major reason why Papio South finished first nationally and Lake Travis was second.

"It was close between those two teams," she said. "But we felt St. James was stronger than anyone Lake Travis had faced."

At the state tournament, the Titans defeated Millard West (25-12, 25-7, 25-13) and Omaha Marian (28-26, 25-19, 25-18) before sweeping Omaha Burke in the final (25-15, 25-11, 25-17).

"We didn't play that well against Marian in the Metro tournament and we learned from that," Egbert said. "I think that close call helped us the rest of the way because we were lights-out in the state tourney."

The Titans were led by three Nebraska recruits — twin sisters Kadie and Amber Rolfzen and setter Kelly Hunter. The trio of juniors earned first-team All-Nebraska honors and will return next season to make the Titans a prohibitive favorite to capture their third straight championship.

Egbert said she is looking forward to the presentations this week for her No. 1 squad.

"We never really talked about finishing No. 1 in the nation," she said, "but I know it's important to our kids. The seniors set that as a goal, so it's awesome that we were able to achieve it."

The coach added that the honors also raise the national awareness of volleyball in the entire state.

"I've always felt that we play great volleyball here," she said. "And to accomplish something like this should make the whole state feel pretty proud."

The top five nationally, as picked by three websites:

ESPNHS: 1, Papillion-La Vista South, 41-0. 2, Lake Travis (Austin, Texas), 50-0. 3, Assumption (Louisville, Ky.), 43-1. 4, St. James Academy (Lenexa, Kan.), 45-1. 5, Berkeley Prep (Tampa, Fla.), 30-2.

MaxPreps: 1, Papillion-La Vista South. 2, Lake Travis. 3, Chaparral (Parker, Colo.), 31-0. 4, Assumption. 5, St. James Academy.

PrepVolleyball.com: 1, Lake Travis. 2, Papillion-La Vista South. 3, Assumption. 4, St. James Academy. 5, Punahou (Honolulu), 24-0.

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