The “Eras” of the Wisconsin Class of 2023

This weekend will be the last time a lot of these Class of 2023's will get a chance to play in front of family and friends in Wisconsin before they head off to nationals next week and a college career this summer.  This class has had quite a journey.  They started out with plenty of promise, in fact a lot of them played in the first ever Prep Dig Tournament - the Prep Dig Gauntlet in Middleton, WI as 14s.  For this class, their high school career was a bit of a roller coaster through a pandemic and a lot of club shuffling.  Which leads me to their eras and as the Queen Taylor Swift is currently touring right now with her Eras Tour, here are the “Eras” of the Class of 2023. 

“The Optimist Era” 

This class came into high school with plenty of promise, and promise that they have since delivered on.  We were able to watch a lot of these athletes at the Prep Dig Gauntlet that had FC Elite 14 Navy that had Kyla Dunaway Kyla Dunaway 6'4" | RS Kimberly | 2023 State WI (Alabama), Rachel Koss Rachel Koss 5'11" | S Freedom | 2023 State WI (Abilene Christian), Sydney Bartels Sydney Bartels 5'11" | OH Freedom | 2023 State WI (Northern Michigan), Karissa Fortune Karissa Fortune 6'2" | OH Appleton North | 2023 State WI (Drake), and Paige Miller Paige Miller 5'10" | DS/L Kaukauna | 2023 State WI (Wisconsin - softball) take on One Wisconsin with Autumn Flynn Autumn Flynn 5'11" | MB Luxemburg-Casco | 2023 State WI (Memphis) and Kaitlin Schulz Kaitlin Schulz 6'0" | OH Kimberly | 2023 State WI (Green Bay).  Capital had a loaded team which many of those athletes are now playing for 608 Juniors including the St. Thomas duo of Addison Schmotzer Addison Schmotzer 6'2" | MB Edgewood | 2023 State WI and Ellie Gustafson Ellie Gustafson 5'10" | OH Monticello | 2023 State WI .  Midwest Penguins had a middle blocker who was a heck of an athlete in Maddy McGath Maddy McGath MB Brookfield East | 2023 State WI who became a standout basketball and volleyball player for Brookfield East.  She will compete this weekend for MKE Sting 18 Gold and then head off to play volleyball at West Virginia, her partner in crime was Samantha Fisch Samantha Fisch 6'1" | MB Luther Prep | 2023 State WI who is now committed to Parkside.

We had out 2019 Top 250 Showcase Series where Rachel Kass listed 2023's to keep an eye on and many of them are still playing and have committed to play at the next level. 

We had our first ever All Freshman Team at Prep Dig that consisted of some of these athletes: 

The future was bright as they started their high school careers.  They had started their 15s club season where we hosted our Prep Dig Resolution where the Impact 15 National team took home the crown where many of those players are still playing for Impact or other Fox Valley clubs.  Things were rolling, until March 2020 came rolling around. 

“The Pepper Challenge Era” 

I don't need to rehash all that covid brought, we can unpack that trauma another day - even Taylor Swift I'm sure has songs she's written or could write, but she's just not ready to tap into the dark times.  We all got creative during covid, but I knew in late spring  if I saw another team “Pepper Challenge” I was going to throw my phone away and delete the entire internet.  The “Pepper Challenge” was when teams would film themselves passing to themselves and then transition to another video clip of a teammate doing the same.  I knew how frustrating this had to be for these kids to not play.  I was frustrated not being out at events.  The wheels were turning on how we could make volleyball happen. 

“The Sizzle Era” 

The Prep Dig Sizzle will be heading into its fourth year of existence this summer which this event actually started due to covid.  We have a great relationship with the Community First Champion Center in Appleton where the brainstorm had begun.  We had teams come in waves, limited spectators, temperature checks, and the more I think about this I honestly ask myself, “Did this really happen?”.  It did and we made it work which sparked into some more high school tournaments over the summer.  Volleyball was happening.  However at the end of the summer, schools would have the decision on what to do with their fall season. 

“The Mask Era”

It was cute for a bit.  Or no? I covered the Prep Dig Summer League at Milwaukee Sting right after the mandate went into place.  These athletes did an amazing job of putting on a mask and playing, if that's what it takes - that's what they will do.  We ran a Summer Showcase at Sting in August and that was the unofficial start of recruiting through BallerTV and other streaming services.  The logistics into these events were like none other.  But, we did it, we found a way. 

“The PDFL Era” 

There were nearly 120 schools who would not have a fall volleyball season, they were going to be playing a spring season.  We started the Prep Dig Fall League or “PDFL” where teams were able to come to the Champion Center on Tuesday nights in the fall and play volleyball, JV and Varsity.  We had specific entry times for teams to enter the building and a specific door they had to exit.  Temperature checks continued and we even postponed one night because numbers had spiked.  This was quite an experience for those running the event, the parents, the coaches and athletes.  Nothing can replicate the feeling of a packed high school gym, but we still managed to have a “Pink Night” collecting supplies for a local cancer society as well as a senior night.  For a lot of these athletes, they didn't know if there would be a spring season or not. 

We were able to run Saturday one day events, let's always remember the “Pumpkin Spice Slam”.  Hopefully we can run that event another day, but I hope we never have to run events in place of high school volleyball ever again. 

“The Virtual Recruiting Era” 

The 2021 club season was interesting where depending on the division and the institution, college coaches were kept home.  Streaming services were widely used to recruit and Zoom was also common vernacular to have recruiting calls with coaches.  Many of these athletes never had a college coach watch them in person until the summer of 2021.  This was an extremely difficult time for everyone to navigate.  

“The Committed Era” 

We went back to big high school volleyball events, a start tournament at the Resch Arena in Green Bay, convention center style club tournaments, and a somewhat normal recruiting process.  There is still lingering effects at the collegiate level with current college athletes taking covid years.  Commits started flying in across all levels.  The Wisconsin Class of 2023 will be sending over 30 athletes to D1 schools across the country.  We also have a few athletes who have been ranked in volleyball that will be heading to play D1 schools to play other sports: Paige Miller Paige Miller 5'10" | DS/L Kaukauna | 2023 State WI (Wisconsin-Softball), Meghan Schultz Meghan Schultz 6'3" | MB New Berlin West | 2023 State WI (Green Bay - Basketball), Grace Grocholski Grace Grocholski 5'10" | OH Kettle Moraine | 2023 State WI (Minnesota - Basketball), Lexi Bugajski Lexi Bugajski 6'0" | S New Berlin Eisenhower | 2023 State WI (Basketball - App State) and Magdalene Hartwig Magdalene Hartwig 6'1" | MB Sauk Prairie | 2023 State WI (Evansville - Basketball).  We will be celebrating this era by seniors in the Class of 2023 at Battle at the Bay with pictures of their committed or senior pictures, a media/photo booth area, and some Prep Dig Trivia.  

“Squad Era” 

The scouts at Prep Dig want to wish all the best to the Class of 2023. Enjoy these last couple of weeks playing club with the friends that you've experienced the highs and lows that goes along with club volleyball.  To the parents, thank you for letting us tell the story of your daughters.  Even though this is the end of a chapter, we still keep track of our Wisconsin kids because Prep Dig never graduates.  See you this weekend!