Breaking Down the WIAA D4 State Tournament

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The D4 State Tournament is going to be as competitive as ever. The teams have some of the top talent in the state and it will be fun to watch them compete. Their semifinal is Thursday at 11:30 am. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Manitowoc Lutheran</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Maitowoc Lutheran survived two 5-set thrillers to make it to the state tournament. Their go-to hitter is [player_tooltip player_id='510424' first='Ava' last='Stuebs'] who is an explosive 6-rotation pin and can execute in the front and back row. She absolutely soars when she takes an approach and has a toolbox of shots to utilize. Ava leads the team in kills per set, hitting percentage, aces, digs, and kills. Marissa Mehlhorn is another pin for Manitowoc Lutheran that manufactures points. Middle blockers Abbie Behnke and [player_tooltip player_id='549619' first='Brooke' last='Duveneck'] are great first lines of defense and have 78 and 74 blocks respectively. Setters Makiah Krause and Maya Keil both are solid assets when they are on the court and keep the ball moving efficiently. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Regis</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Regis upset the #1 seed in their sectional to head to state. This is a team who went 22-7 overall and won their conference this season. Setter [player_tooltip player_id='446662' first='Izzy' last='Reichert'] leads the show and has 828 assists this season. She also has 236 digs and leads the team with 52 aces. On offense, Sydney Marx and Maya Ridenour are pins who average 3.9 kills per set and 2.0 kills per set respectively. [player_tooltip player_id='485122' first='Lily' last='Lewis'] and Olivia Morning are middle blockers who are both hitting well over 0.300 on the season. Libero Ava Skwierczynski is a beast in the back row and averages 4.2 digs per set. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Mineral Point</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>After a 5-set thriller in the sectional semifinal, Mineral Point swept their sectional final match to go to state. Senior setter Eliza Ingwell is a key piece of their offense. She has 930 assists on the season. Sophomore Ava Ingwell gets the job done in the back row. She leads the team in digs and service receptions. On offense, Maddy Kabat is dynamite leading the team in in kills per set and aces. She earns a lot of points for Mineral Point and is a reliable leader. Middle blocker Laci Lindsey is another athlete to keep an eye on. She is hitting 0.357 and leads the team in blocks. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Wabeno/Laona</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Wabeno/Laona was in the Division 4 State Final in 2021 and is back for more. They were undefeated in conference and 37-8 so far on the season. This is a team that relies on their middles a lot. Lily Terry and Allison Albreght lead the team in kills with 356 and 386 respectively. Setter Aubrey Tinsman is just a sophomore but is really great at finding her middles both in and out of system. Sophomore pin hitter Brynn Yaeger also has a big impact on offense with over 200 kills this season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->