East Troy falls to Catholic Memorial in sectional semifinal
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
Last week’s Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 sectional volleyball semifinal at Catholic Memorial had all the makings of an instant classic.
And in many ways, the matchup of the state’s top-two ranked teams definitely lived up to its billing.
Unfortunately for East Troy, the final results fell just a bit short.
The defending state champion Trojans opened with a 25-18 win in the first set, but dropped the next three, 21-25, 21-25, 19-25, to see their 2014 season come to end.
Catholic Memorial swept Kettle Moraine Lutheran in the sectional final two days later to punch its ticket to this weekend’s state tournament. The Crusaders are seeking their fourth title in six years.
East Troy coach Jeremy Weis had a simple message for his team after the match.
“I thanked them for all of the hard work that they put in and (told them) that I thoroughly enjoyed this season,” Weis said.
Early in the match, things went according to plan for the Trojans, especially in the first set, Weis said.
“We followed the game plan to a ‘T’ in the first set,” he said. “We had them scouted very well and knew where we could take advantage of some areas.”
The other key in the first-set win, Weis said, was how clean his team played.
“We didn’t make errors,” he said. “Even if we did things a bit wrong, we had players stepping up, and they made something great out of a bad play. We also followed the game plan. When the girls did what we asked of them, things went our way.”
The complexion of the match changed in the second set.
The action went back and forth, but in the end, the Crusaders pulled out the four-point win and turned the momentum in their favor.
And that was a big moment, Weis said.
“Momentum is huge in girls’ volleyball,” he said. “If we (could) have pulled out the second or even third set, things could have been much brighter for us.”
Junior standout M.E. Dodge led the way with 25 ills, while Chloe Jakscht had 24 aces and Katie Hodges 18 digs.
Even with Dodge’s huge night, the Crusaders still made her job difficult by putting up solid blocks when they could, which slowed the Trojans’ attack, Weis said.
“They did a great job of identifying where M.E. was hitting from,” he said. “Or passing off serve-receive didn’t help the situation at all (and) pretty much made us one-dimensional.
“We made their block look great. We set the ball too far outside the pin, and that allowed our hitters to only have one shot.”
Another factor in the loss was serving, as the Trojans committed a number of untimely errors that hurt their cause.
“We have worked more on serving this year, and it was very disappointing to watch us serve that night,” Weis said. “We should have been able to pick apart their serve-receive better than what we did. We missed some serves in very crucial spots.”
Trio ends playing career
The sectional loss closed the East Troy playing careers of seniors Katie and Jenna Hodges and Clare Gultch.
All three will be missed, Weis said.
“You always miss seniors,” he said. “They have been a part of this program for a long time. I will have to figure out who is going to replace them, especially their defense.”
But the cupboard certainly isn’t bare, as Dodge headlines the returning players who will look to put East Troy back on top in 2015.
And that work begins in the off-season, which starts now, Weis said.
“Next season, we will be able to be more offensive-minded than we were this year,” he said.
“The girls coming back will have another year of development under their belts, and we also have some players coming up that will bring some much-needed help, both offensively and defensively. We will be in the mix again next year.”
