Weekend Review: Who Came Out on Top
This past weekend saw numerous programs give their students athletes a break from competition. However during the short high school season you can always count on someone playing every Saturday until the Golden Ball is held high at the Resch.…
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Continue ReadingThis past weekend saw numerous programs give their students athletes a break from competition. However during the short high school season you can always count on someone playing every Saturday until the Golden Ball is held high at the Resch. Here is a look at some of the area tournaments and who walked away with some hardware.
New Berlin West Invite
West Bend West continued to draw attention to themselves with the early season success. The went into the event seeded 2nd in their pool behind Franklin. The Sabers took the first set between the two 25-17, but West Bend went on to win the next two (25-22) (15-9). That was the only set lost by West as they went on to win the invite going undefeated; (5-0) (10-1). Waukesha West, Deforest, and Lake Country Lutheran joined them in the Gold Bracket. Deforest is quietly having a great start to the year with a 12-5 record. Their only losses are to top teams in Division 1 and a top 10 Division 2 program. The Norskies upset LCL in straight sets (25-23, 25-18) to reach the finals. Franklin went on to win the Silver Championship beating Wauwatosa East and Appleton East in straight sets.
Warhawk Invitational
Germantown got to enjoy playing on their home court and compete to repeat as Champions of their hosted event. Hartford Union rebounded from their loss to Slinger in a 5 set thriller by rolling through pool play. Green Bay Preble gave them a little bit of trouble stealing the second set, But the Orioles were able to finish 15-8 in set 3. Slinger, Kaukauna, and Whitnall proved to be the toughest pool of the event with every match going to 3 sets. Slinger was able to sneak into Gold edging out both opponents in close matches. The Warhawks showed home court advantage is real with a +52 point differential in their route to Gold. Sheboygan North kept it close against Middleton and Kenosha St. Josephs but beat both in straight sets. Middleton overcame a tough start in pool play to win Bronze, while Kaukauna took Silver. In the Gold Bracket Slinger pushed Germantown to a third set before falling 10-15 while Hartford beat Sheboygan North in straight sets. Germantown was able to repeat as Warhawk Invitational Champions with a straight set statement win over Hartford Union (25-21) (25-16). Sheboygan North finished 4-1 and walked away in 3rd.
Mukwonago Invite
The Raccoons of Oconomowoc cruised to the Gold Bracket after going 3-0 (6-0) in pool play Saturday. The first round of playoffs saw them match up against Classic 8 foe, Mukwonago. While the Indians have been figuring out how to replace 2 all conference offensive weapons they gave Ocon all they had. Oconomowoc cemented themselves in the finals, edging out their conference rival in 3 sets. Howards Grove also went 3-0 (6-0) in pool play. Their semi final match up with River Valley was not as exciting as other half of the bracket wrapping it up in 2. The finals matched up the top Division 3 team against a Division 1 State hopeful in Oconomowoc. The Raccoons continued their exciting playoff performance with another 3 set win. After struggles in the Joust crossover this was a big win for the Ocon to get back to their winning ways. For Howards Grove, this is their 2nd time in two weekends finishing as runner up. Mukwonago finished in a solid third place and get a rematch in their home gym against the Raccoons on Tuesday.
Shout outs to Mukwonago with two athletes reaching 1,000 milestones in their careers. Erin Powers (UAB) reached 1,000 digs while Nicole Pozorski (Upper Iowa) got her 1,000th assist. Congratulations to both on great careers at Mukwonago, and best of luck to them as they finish their senior seasons.
Who Else Impressed
Waunakee ran through the KML went a 5-0 record only dropping 1 set to Edgewood. They continue to prove that this squad has more weapons than just Milla Malik (Buffalo). This will be a team to keep an eye on throughout the year as they continue to tighten up their serve receive allowing their middles to get more active. Lakeside Lutheran jumped to Prep Digs Division 2 rankings with a big win against Edgewood at the same event.
Wisconsin Lutheran continued their quest for the Resch with an impressive 2nd place finish at the Grayslake Ram Slam. The Lady Vikings remains one of the top Division 2 teams. They go into the week having 2 Woodland Conference matches against New Berlin Eisenhower and New Berlin West.
Pewaukee made sure everyone knew they mean business going 6-0 in the Tom Larsen Triton Classic. The Pirates ralled from down 9-11 to win 15-12 against Sun Prairie. Winning a tournament is always noteworthy, but the biggest new for Pewaukee might have been the foot save by Elsa Shepard that led to a Sun Prairie timeout and allowed Pewaukee to continue their amazing 3rd set comeback.
Click here to watch the Pewaukee Kick Save