First Round Upsets In Division 2

Sectional 1 – #5 Northland Pines defeats #4 Antigo 25-22, 25-11, 25-19 On September 6th Northland Pines lost in 4 sets to Antigo and then redeemed themselves beating Antigo in 5 sets exactly 1 month later. Antigo still managed to get a higher seed, but Northland Pines decided to set the record straight. Northland wasted no time taking this match in 3. The Eagles’ next regional match will be at the #1 seed Merrill. They have not played each other at all this season, but Merrill has had much more success against common opponents. Northland Pines will be heavily dependent on [player_tooltip player_id="80155" first="Jacqueline" last="Smith"] (2020 – 5’11 – Outside Hitter/Defensive Specialist) and Lauren Grosskopf (2019 – Setter/Defensive Specialist). Merrill, however, has a variety of weapons, including the powerful offense by [player_tooltip player_id="80734" first="Kelly" last="Page"] (2021 – 5’5 – Setter) and the heavy swinging [player_tooltip player_id="33104" first="Megan" last="Schroder"] (2019 – 5’11 – Outside Hitter). Their defense is hard to beat with the likes of [player_tooltip player_id="80297" first="Reese" last="Mrachek"] (2020 – 5’10 – Middle Blocker) and the tenacious [player_tooltip player_id="33106" first="Kelsie" last="Belfiori"] (2019 – 5’5 – Libero/Defensive Specialist). #6 Tomahawk defeats #3 Medford 19-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-11 These teams have played one another more than enough times this season. My college coaches always used to say, “It’s really tough to beat a team 3 times”. In this case, Medford beat Tomahawk 9 straight sets before the Hatchets said, “Enough!” Tomahawk will face # 2 seed Mosinee on Thursday. Mosinee took down Tomahawk twice in September, but after seeing what Tomahawk did to Medford… I would say that means nothing. The Hatchets’ offense is run by the crafty and smart Taylor Shilts (2019 – Setter/Right Side). Her main weapon is [player_tooltip player_id="80191" first="Mady" last="Hanse"]n (2020 – Outside Hitter), while the defense is anchored by [player_tooltip player_id="80300" first="Morgan" last="Ernst"] (2020 – Libero). Mosinee will start by putting the pressure on from the service line with the aggressive serving of [player_tooltip player_id="80813" first="Brooklyn" last="Montgomery"] (2021 – 5’6 – Outside Hitter/Defensive Specialist). Another force at the net to be wreckened with is [player_tooltip player_id="80308" first="Aurora" last="Krause"] (2020 – 5’10 – Middle Blocker/Right Side). #5 Sparta defeats #4 La Crosse Logan 25-20, 27-25, 18-25, 25-23 Sparta has seen La Crosse Logan before. The very first match of the season Sparta lost to Logan in a 5-set battle. In mid-September they had another crack at them and lost in 4. Third time is the charm, and lucky for Sparta, it was in the playoffs! Nadia Nielson (2020 – Outside Hitter/Middle Blocker) led the Spartans with 11 kills. Nielson hit some good shots inside and over the block, as well as a hard line shot. I knew Katelyn Humphrey (2020 – 5’1 – Setter) was a strong server, but she is officially a CLUTCH server. Humphrey recorded a career high 7 aces in this match and play like that can make or break a match. Sparta will take on the #1 seed West Salem on Thursday. Sectional 3-   #10 Campbellsport defeats #7 Edgerton 25-15, 25-14, 25-19 It’s hard to seed teams that haven’t played one another, but Campbellsport came to make a statement - and mission accomplished. Their next challenge will be #2 Lakeside Lutheran. Lakeside Lutheran is led by [player_tooltip player_id="80837" first="Kylee" last="Gnabasik"] (2021 – 5’3 – Defensive Specialist/Setter), who is a threat from the service line, as well as a strong defender. While Gnabasik runs the defense, [player_tooltip player_id="80242" first="Grace" last="Westrate"] (2020 – 5’9 – Setter) runs an effective offense. Campbellsport’s defense is anchored by Evonna Engel (2019 – 5’3 – Setter/Defensive Specialist/Libero), who averages almost 5 digs per match. Sectional 4- #9 Brown Deer defeats #8 Milwaukee School of Languages 25-17, 25-12, 25-15 These two teams definitely should have flip-flopped seeds because this was a pretty dominant win for Brown Deer. Brown Deer will have the unfortunate task of taking on #1 seed Kettle Moraine Lutheran (KML) next. KML is powered by the offense run by Carissa Egelseer (2019 – Setter) and her weapons of Ari Miller(2019 – Committed to UW-Milwaukee) and [player_tooltip player_id="21871" first="Elle" last="Truckenbrod"] (2021 – 5’9 – Outside Hitter).