Remembering 2018, Looking at 2019: The Charger Rally
Wisconsin is a bit unique in some of the tournaments they are able to offer. In Iowa, it is almost unheard of to play a tournament on a Friday night. For Wisconsin, some of the premier tournaments tend to be…
Access all of Prep Dig
Continue reading this article and more.
Continue ReadingWisconsin is a bit unique in some of the tournaments they are able to offer. In Iowa, it is almost unheard of to play a tournament on a Friday night. For Wisconsin, some of the premier tournaments tend to be over the course of two days. Sun Prairie, The Joust and others are able to take advantage of the days before schools tarts. The Sprawl and now the Charger Rally are playing Friday night with championship play to be held on Saturday. Other teams are heading to Minnesota and Illinois for top tier competition on Fridays and Saturday afternoons which depending on the weekend sometimes has a conflict with homecoming. No matter the weekend, there is solid competition week in and week out, and the Charger Rally, held at the Milwaukee Sting Center is no different.
The Road To The Championship
Arrowhead has won back to back Charger Rally titles.Looking throughout the Milwaukee Sting Center there were future high caliber college athletes, teams that would be competing on the floor of the Resch Center, and a couple who would be in the hunt for a state title. Maybe one surprise is that of the four state champions (Catholic Central, Lake Country Lutheran, East Troy, and Burlington), none of them played in the Charger Rally, however plenty of state tournament teams were battle tested all weekend and even saw some matchups they would later have in the postseason.
River Falls vs. Arrowhead
River Falls had an undefeated regular season in 2017 and so far in the 2018 season had blazed through everyone on their schedule. With the Wildcats looking to beef up their regular season schedule the Charger Rally welcomed one of the top teams with open arms to compete against the best. However, Arrowhead with the power at all positions, they proved to be too much for RF. River Falls had Anna Wolf, the Minnesota commit in the middle and two really powerful pins in Emily Banitt (Loyola-Chicago) and Halle Olson (Florida Atlantic) scoring points as well. For the Warhawks, the top outside hitter in the state in Aubrey Hamilton (Notre Dame) was simply too much. The Warhawks swept the Wildcats to repeat as champions.
Sun Prairie
The Cardinals had a few question marks heading into the season with a lot of youth on their roster. Loyola-Chicago recruit, Karlie McNabb would be taking a large bulk of the swings, but who else would be scoring points. Sophomores Payton Addink on the outside and right side/setter Josie Halbleib came up big in all facets of the game from passing, block, and Halbleib with her setting. Morgan Jensen was also a big part to the Cardinals success as a libero, giving a glimpse to the rest of the state that this was a team to contend with the rest of the season. A narrow loss to Oconomowoc, but rebound wins to Kimberly, Sheboygan North, and section rival Waunakee started the momentum to get back to the state tournament. Sun Prairie would later defeat Waunakee in the sectional final.
Oconomowoc
The Raccoons had a little bit of youth adjusting to varsity level with some key players like Maleah Howe and Haley Koch seeing major roles as Freshmen. Oconomowoc had a brutal schedule all year with some of top tournaments in the state and their own conference. Ocon only lost one match all weekend coming at the hands of Kimberly who would later go on to advance to the state tournament. Oconomowoc would see Sun Prairie again at the state tournament, defeat River Falls in a come from behind match in the semifinals before losing to Burlington in the finals.
Day two of the Charger Rally at @stingvb1988 – expecting some upsets and separation from teams looking to make a statement, can’t wait!
— Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) September 15, 2018
What will this look like in 2019?
I have not seen what teams are going to be at the Charger Rally, but I do know of the returners who will be making a run for some big time matches by Saturday afternoon.
Brookfield Central
Those Freshmen won’t be Freshmen anymore. The Lancers had a really young, but talented roster in 2018, but with a year of experience under their belt they will be back and extremely physical at the net. Mckenna Wucherer who needs to introduction will be back for her Sophomore year after 571 kills her Freshman year. Morgan Daugherty, the athletic Class of 2022 middle blocker will be back as well and with more experience. Senior to be Maddie Weyker, a solid six rotation outside hitter will be a major threat as well as Abby Wucherer who was out last fall with an injury.
Sussex Hamilton
The Chargers were about a year away, and 2019 could be a big season for this squad. Sarah Schrader, Jessica Bagley, and Ava Rebarchik will be leading the way in their Senior year. However, a really deep Junior class will be providing lots of firepower with Kayla Lewinski who had over 100 kills last year and is a solid block on the right side along with middle blocker Lakyn Graves. They also have two solid setters in Janelle Stuempfig and Katelyn Lefler where Lefler can also be used as an attacker.
Cedarburg
Cedarburg came on strong last year with their two middles in Big East recruits Kiara Reinhardt (Creighton) and Maddie Barber (Villanova). Aspen Jankowski is one of the top six rotation outsides in Wisconsin was a big time addition to Cedarburg where she had 223 kills to start her career.
Howards Grove
The Tigers were one match short of the state tournament in 2018 with a roster loaded with underclassmen. In 2019 they will be returning a lot of powerful attackers in Karissa Kaminski, Emily Bruckschen and Myka Roethel. They will also welcome the addition of Wisconsin Badger recruit, Saige Damrow who will be one of the top athletes in the Class of 2023 as a libero. The Tigers have Mackenzie Holzwart who had over 400 digs her Freshman and Sophomore year.
@RFHSVball vs @LCSpartanvball – 2017 D1 runner up vs. D2 runner up pic.twitter.com/okmGpMLeaq
— Chris Fitzgerald (@PrepDigChris) September 14, 2018
Luxemburg-Casco
The Spartans have asserted themselves as one of the top programs in Northeast Wisconsin and will be returning a really strong squad for 2019. After finishing state runner-up in 2017, sectional runner-up in 2018, they will be looking to get back to Green Bay in 2019 with really talented group of Juniors and Seniors.