Week 5 – Wisconsin Recap

<p>Big matches, big tournaments, and big upsets.  Prep Dig has been having a blast hearing from our followers on Twitter and Facebook and sharing your successes.  Let’s take a quick look at what has happened in Week 5 (September 17^th-September 22nd) of the high school season. </p> <p><strong>Kierra Koepke – </strong>2019 – 5’7 – Outside Hitter/Libero – SWCHA – Not Committed</p> <p>Koepke and the SWCHA Saints have been quite the story this year.  They are currently 28-6, which is a real solid record, but the reason you don’t hear about them much is because you won’t find them in our state tournament.  This is because they are a home-school team, and they’ve had success at the national tournament level.  Koepke is a big part of their success, and it’s no wonder.  She may be smaller, but she is efficient on the outside, currently hitting a .418, and she recently tallied a season high 18 kills in their 3-0 win over Cristo Rey on Thursday.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="10242" first="Laura" last="Shoopman"] </strong>– 2019 – 6’2 - Outside Hitter – Westosha Central – Committed to Oral Roberts</p> <p>Westosha (24-8) went 6-2 this past week with losses to Neenah and Arrowhead and a 15^th place finish at the Lynn LaPorte Sprawl.  Shoopman tallied a career high 19 kills in their 2-0 win over West Bend East this past weekend.  She has been racking up the kills and working her way up the leaderboard.  This is no surprise, as Shoopman does a great job to swing hard in the seam.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="80714" first="Mariah" last="Grunze"]</strong> – 2021 – 5’11 - Outside Hitter – Waterford – Not Committed</p> <p>Grunze tied a season high 23 kills in their 3-0 win over Delavan-Darien on Tuesday.  This season has been tough for Waterford (11-11), but they have been playing some top competition.  In her sophomore season, Grunze is well on her way to joining the 1,000 kill club, and that isn’t hard to believe when you see her power, whether she is coming from the backrow or pounding a hard line shot from the front row.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="33093" first="Tommy" last="Albers"]</strong> – 2019 – 5’9 – Setter – Neenah – Not Committed</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="32730" first="Kayla" last="Kraus"] </strong>– 2019 – 5’6 – Libero – Neenah – Committed to Loyola</p> <p>Albers is currently averaging over 8 assists per set, while Neenah (23-12) has been struggling after a strong start to the season.  Neenah went 4-4 this past week, with Albers recording a career high 13 digs in their 2-1 win over Hamilton en route to Neenah’s 11^th place finish at the Lynn LaPorte Sprawl.  Albers runs a 5-1 for Neenah and has a total of 734 assists so far this season.</p> <p>Kraus has a high volleyball IQ, hustles, and provides a strong 1^st or 2^nd contact with great ball control.  She tallied a season high 2 aces and 27 digs in their 3-0 win over Kaukauna.  Kraus also recorded a season high 4 assists twice this past weekend.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="80176" first="Emily" last="Wendt"] – </strong>2020 – 5’9 – Setter – East Troy – Not Committed</p> <p>East Troy had a great 7^th place finish at the Sprawl this weekend, and a big reason for that is Wendt.  She runs a 5-1, and the last time I saw her play, she was also playing middle when in the front row.  Wendt is very crafty and finds a way to score, and it showed this past week for her.    She tied her career high 6 aces in their 3-0 win over Edgerton, 5 kills twice this past weekend and had a season high 37 assists in their 1-2 loss to Kimberly.</p> <p><strong>Bella Bratzke – </strong>2021 - Outside Hitter – Indian Trail – Not Committed</p> <p>Indian Trail (12-19) has had a rough week but played against some really tough competition in the Qualifier for the Sprawl.  Bratzke certainly didn’t back down in the battles and recorded a season high 12 kills three times this past week, but most impressively, she leads her team with 77 aces.  Whether she is in the front or back row, she is making a big difference.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="10260" first="Keri" last="Walker"]</strong> – 2019 – 6’0 – Middle Blocker/Setter – Living Word Lutheran – Not Committed</p> <p>We’ve talked about Walker after week 1 due to her stellar efficiency as a hitter.  That hasn’t changed, as she is still hitting an impressive .385.  But this past week, Living Word Lutheran (14-5) won both of their matches, and Walker was a standout from behind the service line.  She has had some impressive serving matches before, but she recorded a career high 13 aces in their 3-0 win over Messer.  Big matches like these have Walker averaging over an ace a set!</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="80712" first="Alexis" last="Boling"] </strong>– 2021 – 6’0 – Middle Blocker – Waukesha West – Not Committed</p> <p>West (26-8) had a solid week going 8-1 and winning the Sprawl Qualifier.  Boling had a great week as well, recording a career high 3 aces in their 2-0 win over Cedarburg.  She has been particularly impressive blocking, with 104 blocks so far this season.  Boling is really impressive at saving balls that get tight to the net and can power through the block when on the attack.</p>