By Dan Truttschel
Correspondent
The late-season Sprawl Invitational in West Bend always gives state girls volleyball teams a good indicator of where they are at this point.
And for the East Troy squad, it showed plenty of promise.
East Troy posted a 4-3 record, including a win over the state’s sixth-ranked Division 1 team, and finished 14th overall to improve to 14-10 overall.
“I was very pleased with our overall performance from this weekend,” East Troy coach Jeremy Weis said. “I enjoyed watching the girls battle in each match.
“We learned what our strengths are going into the end of the season. We also are aware of the things that we have to get just a little bit better at as well.”
East Troy posted wins over Kenosha Tremper (25-18, 25-10), West Bend East (25-20, 25-23), Brookfield Central (14-25, 25-18, 15-11) and DePere (25-19, 12-25, 15-13).
Brookfield Central entered the weekend ranked sixth in Division 1, so that clearly was a quality win on the Trojans’ resume, Weis said.
“The key to (that) match was our passing off serve receive,” Weis said. “We passed extremely well, and that opened up a lot of things offensively for us.
“Once we could move the ball around a bit more, we were able to put more pressure on them.”
The Trojans dropped decisions to Greendale (25-21, 21-25, 13-15), Catholic Memorial (14-25, 22-25) and Divine Savior Holy Angels (18-25, 16-25).
Catholic Memorial, the two-time defending Division 2 state champion, is currently the state’s top-ranked team, while DSHA is ranked third in Division 1.
The difference in the losses wasn’t difficult to figure out, Weis said.
“It is very simple,” he said. “If we pass and defend well, we can compete with anyone. If we don’t do that well, it makes it very tough on us.”
Statistical leaders for each of the seven matches last weekend were:
- vs. Greendale: Brianna Scuric (11 digs, 17 kills), Julian Friedrichs (3 blocks, 4 aces), Isabelle Martino (23 assists, 8 digs), Mati Jakscht (7 digs) and Katie Zewiske (6 digs);
- vs. Tremper: Scuric (11 kills), Jakscht (11 digs), Zewiske (12 digs), Martino (19 assists, 9 digs);
- vs. Catholic Memorial: Scuric (13 kills), Martino (15 assists, 3 aces), Zewiske (10 digs);
- vs. West Bend East: Scuric (12 digs, 14 kills), Jakscht (15 digs), Martino (20 assists);
- vs. Brookfield Central: Scuric (5 digs, 16 kills), Friedrichs (7 kills), Jakscht (13 digs), Martino (26 assists, 8 digs), Zewiske (8 digs);
- vs. DePere: Scuric (9 digs, 13 kills), Friedrichs (4 blocks), Martino (20 assists, 8 digs, 3 blocks), Jakscht (9 digs), Taylor Schmitt (7 digs), Zewiske (6 digs); and
- vs. DSHA: Scuric (7 digs, 11 kills), Martino (18 assists, 5 digs), Jakscht (6 digs), Zewiske (5 digs), Schmitt (4 digs).
Prior to the tournament, the Trojans posted a pair of Rock Valley Conference wins to stay one win behind league-leading McFarland.
East Troy beat visiting Evansville 25-17, 25-16, 25-12 last Thursday, which came on the heels of a 23-25, 25-17, 23-25, 25-18, 15-11 marathon win two nights earlier over Edgerton.
Leading the way against Evansville were Scuric (21 kills, 4 aces, 13 digs), Friedrichs (5 blocks), Jakscht (7 digs), Schmitt (5 digs), Zewiske (5 digs) and Martino (32 assists).
Against Edgerton, leaders were Scuric (24 kills, 20 digs), Friedrichs (12 kills, 4 blocks), Natalee Bearce (8 kills, 5 blocks), Zewiske (7 kills, 14 digs), Jakscht (20 digs), Schmitt (10 digs) and Martino (10 digs, 50 assists).
East Troy traveled to McFarland on Tuesday for a rematch with the Spartans, who handed the Trojans their only conference loss earlier this season.
