Seven players make all-conference teams
By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
With its sixth straight Rock Valley Conference North Division crown and another perfect season in the books, it shouldn’t come as any surprise to see the East Troy High School volleyball team dominate the All-RVC honors.
To the victors go the spoils.
East Troy landed seven girls on the three All-RVC teams, led by Player of the Year M.E. Dodge and Coach of the Year Jeremy Weis.
Joining Dodge (outside hitter) on the first team were senior middle hitter Katrina Santos (middle blocker) and senior Chloe Jakscht (setter).
Second-team picks were senior Carly Atchison (libero) and freshman Brianna Scuric (outside hitter). Freshman Mati Jakscht and junior Natalee Bearce were honorable mention picks.
East Troy was 32-10 this fall. The Trojans advanced to the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association Division 2 state championship contest at the Resch Center, Green Bay, where it fell to two-time state champion Catholic Memorial.
Dodge leads the way
The future University of Wisconsin Badger had another dominating season for the Trojans.
Dodge finished with 670 kills, 43 aces, 51 total blocks and 428 digs.
“M.E. is the ultimate leader,” Weis said. “She has set a standard here in East Troy which may be hard to beat.
“She is not only the biggest competitor that you will ever meet, but she is the best teammate you will ever meet as well. She has shown her teammates that you can be a great player and be someone who truly cares about their teammates.”
Santos led the Trojans with 65 blocks and was third on the team in kills with 230.
“Katrina had a great season,” Weis said. “I was very proud of the kind of season that she (had) this year. She really owned the middle this year.
“We put her into another new position, and it was the best decision that we could have made. Katrina embraced this change from the beginning of the season and it showed.”
Weis added that Santos added another hitting weapon to her arsenal that opponents had difficulty stopping.
“During the course of the season when Katrina really figured out the slide, there were not many teams that could stop that,” he said. “She was a huge weapon for us all season long and was a player that we could really count on.”
Chloe Jakscht, who missed some time mid-season because of a concussion, still finished with 1,008 assists in her last high school season.
Jakscht also added 96 kills, 36 aces, 39 total blocks and 250 digs.
“Chloe was another player who had a great season for us,” Weis said. “She really bought into what we were trying to get across to her.
“We knew that we needed to have her work on her footwork skills during the course of the year, (and) that is exactly what she did.”
Weis added that Jakscht went the extra mile to improve her game as well.
“She was given a list of footwork drills that she needed to do on a regular basis if she was going to get where we needed her to be,” he said. “He accepted that challenge and passed with flying colors.
“She made huge strides from the end of last season to the end of this season. I was very proud of Chloe for doing the extra work that this team desperately needed her to do to be as successful as we were.”
Atchison was second on the team in digs with 394. She also had 42 aces. Scuric finished with 261 kills, good for second behind Dodge, was first in aces with 84 and recorded 213 digs.
Another freshman, Mati Jakscht, who filled in for her sister during her absence, posted 235 digs this fall, 158 aces and 22 aces. Bearce had 115 kills and 45 total blocks.
New challenge begins
Weis said the returning player and the newcomers to the program have a big challenge ahead.
But he’s also confident they will accept that challenge and keep the program moving forward.
“We have some very talented girls coming back next year, but we also have some very big shoes to fill,” he said. “The seniors that are graduating are leaving some question marks or us to fill.
“We have some great young players in this program that are really starting to figure a lot of things out. They have huge shoes to fill, but I know that they have learned a lot this season and are willing to put the hard work in so that this program continues to be as successful as it has been over the last seven to eight years.”
