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Maxwell senior will soon swing talents to MCC
MAXWELL, Neb. — Maxwell High School’s Janie Sommer has signed a letter of intent to continue her volleyball career next year at McCook Community College.
Sommer is a 6-0 left-handed, right-side hitter where she captained the Wildcats for the past two seasons for coach Gina Sommer, her mother.
“Janie is a player that is versatile and can play many different roles on our team,” said MCC Coach Hayley Kobza. “She sets, hits, blocks, passes well, and shows great leadership skills.”
She brings 300 sets of playing experience from her time at Maxwell High School, where in four years of varsity competition, she tallied 549 kills, 657 digs, 74 total blocks, 534 assists and 120 service aces.
As a senior she averaged 3.5 kills per set in 736 attacks with a 34.1 kill percentage. She was a 92.4 percent server with 21 service aces.
“I am going to miss everybody, but my senior class volleyball players is who I will miss the most. We have a really close bond and we all played together so well,” she said.
During this past season she was named to the all Republican Plains Activities Conference first team, the KNOP News 2 Friday Night Sports Hero 2019 and honorable mention on the Lincoln Journal-Star all-state team.
Beginning her fourth year of varsity basketball with 63 career games heading into this season she had scored 474 points.
She’s lettered in track every year and participated in softball in 2017 and 2018, was named team captain of the Spirit Squad her junior year and as a student athlete, she has been named academic all-state all four years. At Maxwell she was also involved in FCCLA, National Honor society and speech.
She has qualified for the National FCCLA three of the four years she’s participated.
“I chose MCC because I enjoyed the atmosphere as soon as I was on campus,” Sommer said.
“I love the game of volleyball and coach Kobza gave me the chance to continue at a higher level,” she added.
“For Janie, it’s all about where she comes in and finds a spot to help us be the most successful,” Kobza said. “I like players that want to push themselves and continue on with playing the sport they love and Janie is committed to doing just that.”
While at MCC she will pursue a degree in occupational therapy.
When she’s not involved in sports and school activities, she enjoys duck and deer hunting and helps train golden retrievers to become hunting dogs.
She learned how to sew when she was in junior high and sewed a T-shirt quilt for her sister’s graduation present.