BY MURRAY GLEFFE
CORRESPONDENT
GREEN BAY-The Ashwaubenon girls’ volleyball season came to an end Thursday evening after the Appleton North Lightning defeated the Jaguars in straight sets 25-14, 25-22, 25-12 in a WIAA Sectional Semifinal played at East High School. (Oct. 25)
Maria Scherer led the way with 19 assists. Paige Barry had 16 digs, and Maddie Koch added 15 kills.
With many of the Jaguars’ students wearing football helmets and raring too go, Ashwaubenon got off to a flying start on the court.
Mabel Kirst set the tone with a block on the very first point of the match.
Koch had three lethal kills from the left part of the Red Devils gym and suddenly the Jaguars grabbed an early 7-2 lead.
“The energy we came out with in this match was awesome,” said Megan Wierschke, Jaguars volleyball coach. “We weren’t intimidated in the least bit, and we had kids make plays for us early.”
The raucous and rowdy crowd forced Lightning Head Coach Steve Scheuerell to take an early time out.
It worked as Appleton North won the next four points.
Both teams settled in halfway through the first set.
Lightning RS, OH Lauren Logue evened the contest at 12 all with a kill from the middle of the court.
Ashwaubenon regained the lead after Appleton North was called for net interference.
Then the whole complexion of the set changed within a matter of a five-minute span.
The second seeded Lightning rattled off 12 points in a row!
“We couldn’t sustain the early momentum we got against North,” said Wierschke. “They are a good team that doesn’t make a lot of mistakes. They found the open floor and they just got on a huge run and didn’t stop.”
Much of the damage was done by the quick flicks of Junior Livvie Asare and the laser like precision of Freshman Brianna Cantrell.
Two points later, Appleton North had won the opening set by double digits.
Undeterred, the Jaguars once again jumped out to a fast start (in set number two) as Maddie Crowley garnered a kill a block, and an ace in succession to give the Jaguars an early 3-1 lead.
Scherer and Allison Nitti hit the floor hard a few points later to keep the ball alive and give the Jaguars an 8-4 lead.
Much of the game plan by Ashwaubenon was intended on getting Koch the ball as much as they could, and it worked.
However, Appleton North slowly crept back into the second set and eventually evened the contest at 10 apiece.
The Lightning then had another big spurt (similar to the first) where they won nine of the next twelve points to take a convincing 19-13 lead.
“We had trouble running our offense in serve/receive,” Wierschke said. “Great teams do that too you. We weren’t able to attack as much as I would have liked in that second and we dug ourselves a big deficit.”
Lilli Van Handel had two kills and Grace Demetrician an ace down the stretch to keep the Jaguars at bay and win set number two by three points.
Down two sets to zero and the season on the line, the Jaguars needed to get off to another good start in the third, and that simply didn’t happen.
The Lightning came out and put their stamp on the match by grabbing 4-1, 7-2, and 13-4 leads.
The Jaguars were called for four net interference calls and hit the red boundary stick three times in the last set.
The self-induced errors helped build the Lightning lead each time.
Appleton North coasted down the stretch and at 24-12 Sarah Ganser put the finishing touches on a kill to advance the Lightning onto the Sectional Finals versus the Kimberly Papermakers.
The Jaguars end their 2018-19 campaign with a 30-8 record.
“When each girl reflects back on this year I hope they realize the amount of hard work they put into it,” added Wierschke. “Their presence was strong on court, their leadership reflected comeback wins, and their attitude to never give up when adversity seemed to be too much will really be how myself and the coaching staff will relive this group. I hope these young girls see the type of season we had and they step into roles next year with sheer determination and dedication. This season will always be remembered.”
