Trojans at 20-0 for the season
By Derek Kiesow
Sports correspondent
The wins kept coming for the East Troy High School girls volleyball team as they wrapped up their third tournament championship by winning the Brookfield Central Lancer Invite on Sept. 14.
East Troy, seeded first in the tournament and ranked top in the state, began the morning playing round robin pool play against three teams. East Troy quickly dispatched Kenosha Tremper 25-14 25-11, Appleton North 25-14 25-10 and Greenfield 25-15 25-17.
The first place finish in pool play pitted the Black and Gold against the Dashers of Divine Savior Holy Angels, a perennial volleyball powerhouse in the Championship Division Playoffs quarterfinals.
Coming off a short lunch break, East Troy played flat and error loaded volleyball to begin the match. The Dashers could do no wrong as they seemed to have an answer for every aspect of the Trojan’s game. Divine Savior easily took the first set of the match 25-12.
After the first set, East Troy huddled around head coach Jeremy Weis looking for words of advice. Weis never allowed his girls to give excuses for the poor play in the first set.
“I told the girls to be accountable for their actions on the court,” Weis said. “They have been trained the right way and it is up to them to be disciplined to perform the way they have been taught.”
After the pep talk East Troy responded in a great way.
In a complete reversal of the first set East Troy jumped all over Divine Savor. The Trojan errors vanished as East Troy played clean, competitive volleyball. East Troy took the 25-17 second set victory and the momentum into a final third game played only to 15.
The break between the games did nothing to cool the fiery, hot Trojans as they jumped to a quick 5-2 lead. Divine Savior attempted using a timeout to slow the Trojans with no avail. The Black and Gold continued its final game rampage and moved into the semi-finals with a 15-8 win.
Westosha Central, a familiar foe for East Troy, was next for the Trojans. Westosha played East Troy tough in the first set. The Trojans were able to squeak out a victory by the slimmest of margins 26-24 before East Troy ran away with the second set 25-17, moving them into the championship.
In the final East Troy matched up against Muskego, a team that possesses one of the tallest frontlines in the state. The height advantage was evident early as Muskego was able to minimize East Troy’s offense with a huge block. The Warriors jumped out to a six-point advantage ushering Weis to call an early timeout down 8-14. East Troy continued to battle tough and attempted to close the gap at 18-21.
The frantic comeback came up short as Muskego took the first set 21-25.
The second set started off on the wrong foot once again for East Troy as they fell behind 3-6 and had to burn a quick timeout. Muskego’s confidence continued to grow as the lead swelled to 6-11 and Muskego took their largest lead of the set.
The Trojans confused the Muskego block as East Troy was able to out transition the Warrior frontline neutralizing the big block.
The play moved East Troy to the next level earning the Trojans their first lead since 3-2 at 20-19. In a complete twist of fate East Troy took the final point of the set on a huge Trojan block of their own, 25-22.
East Troy earned the first point of the final set but Muskego turned the tide quickly as they scored the next five points causing Weis to use a timeout. Muskego’s advantage would continue to grow as the Warriors took a 6-12 late game lead. Another timeout gave the Trojans a moment to regroup.
Weis asked the team to “play out of their comfort zone and remember the situations in practice that they constantly are put into. This way the girls never seem to get scared or nervous even when put in difficult circumstances.”
Out of the huddle East Troy seemed determined to make this a match once more. East Troy was able to use crucial clutch serving that allowed the Trojans to take the next three points. This closed the gap to 9-12.
More aggressive serving brought East Troy all the way back to tie the match at 13-13. Another Trojan ace earned East Troy their first lead of the set and the first championship point. Muskego challenged right back and took the next two points to earn a 14-15 lead and a Warrior match point. A well timed Trojan kill put both teams back to even.
Leading 18-17 and on their fourth match point, the Trojans slammed the door shut with a Trojan ace. East Troy’s fans erupted as the ball hit the floor and moved their team to 20-0 overall record on the year.
Brittney Jakscht led the team with 134 assists and 10 blocks on the day as M.E. Dodge added 59 kills. Mykie Olsen rounded out the leaders with nine aces and 69 digs.
“The goal is simple … we need to get better in each tournament and we also expect to win every time we step on the floor,” said Weis.
Earlier in the week, East Troy was able to start Rock Valley Conference play going 2-0 in three game sweeps against McFarland (25-14, 25-10, 25-6) and Evansville (25-5, 25-8, 25-11).
